This document presents an applicability statement to address the
requirements for protection of ring topologies for Multi-Protocol
Label Switching Transport Profile (MPLS-TP) Label Switched Paths (LSP)
on multiple layers. The MPLS-TP Requirements document [TPReqs]
specifies specific criteria for justification of dedicated protection
mechanism for particular topologies, including optimizing the number
of OAM entities needed, minimizing the number of labels for protection
paths, minimzing the number of recovery elements in the network, and
minimizing the number of control and management transactions
necessary. The document proposes a methodology for ring protection
based on existing MPLS-TP survivability mechanisms, without the need
of specification of new constructs or protocols. This document is a
product of a joint Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) /
International Telecommunications Union Telecommunications
Standardization Sector (ITU-T) effort to include an MPLS Transport
Profile within the IETF MPLS and PWE3 architectures to support the
capabilities and functionalities of a packet transport network as
defined by the ITU-T.