Does ns2 Really Simulate MPLS Networks?

Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) is being used in many corporate networks and public infrastructures and as a backbone technology of many Autonomous Systems. Because of its importance, what is needed is to find out simulators able to simulate MPLS networks whose results reflect the real environment as much as possible. In this article, we will show real measurements from the Railway Infrastructure Administrator (ADIF, the Spanish railway infrastructure manager) MPLS network and we will compare them with the results obtained by the freeware simulator ns2. We will check the level of reliability provided by the simulator and we will know under which parameters its results will be similar with those obtained from the real network. These results could be taken into account later to simulate real-time critical services over MPLS networks.