An apparatus is provided for control of a plurality of forwarding switches using a network controller. The network controller executes a routing configuration application that analyzes interconnections between the forwarding switches to identify a topology of the network, determine label switched paths (LSPs) between the forwarding switches, and transmits the next hop routes to the forwarding switches. The forwarding switches use the next hop routes to route packets through the network according to a multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) protocol. Each LSP includes one or more next hop routes defining a forwarding address associated with one forwarding switch to an adjacent forwarding switch.