Survivable MPLS Over Optical Transport Networks: Cost and Resource Usage Analysis

In this paper we study different options for the survivability implementation in MPLS over optical transport networks (OTN) in terms of network resource usage and configuration cost. We investigate two approaches to the survivability deployment: single layer and multilayer survivability and present various methods for spare capacity allocation (SCA) to reroute disrupted traffic. The comparative analysis shows the influence of the offered traffic granularity and the physical network structure on the survivability cost: for high bandwidth LSPs, close to the optical channel capacity, the multilayer survivability outperforms the single layer one, whereas for low bandwidth LSPs the single layer survivability is more cost-efficient. On the other hand, sparse networks of low connectivity parameter use more wavelengths for optical path routing and increase the configuration cost, as compared with dense networks. We demonstrate that by mapping efficiently the spare capacity of the MPLS layer onto the resources of the optical layer one can achieve up to 22% savings in the total configuration cost and up to 37% in the optical layer cost. Further savings (up to 9 %) in the wavelength use can be obtained with the integrated approach to network configuration over the sequential one, however, at the increase in the optimization problem complexity. These results are based on a cost model with different cost variations, and were obtained for networks targeted to a nationwide coverage     

On Achieveing Bandwidth-Aware LSP//spl lambda/SP Multiplexing/Separation in Multi-layer Networks

We present a new traffic engineering (TE) model which is based on QoS rerouting and uses hybrid resilience to improve the recovery performance of multi-layer networks where an MPLS network is layered above an MPlambdaS network. We formulate the rerouting of the LSPs/lambdaSPs as a multi-constrained problem and use its polynomial reduction to find a heuristic solution that can be implemented by standardized constraint-based routing algorithms. This heuristic solution uses a cost-based routing optimization to achieve different network configurations which multiplex/separate bandwidth-aware LSPs/lambdaSPs on the network links. We formulate the resilience upon failure as a multi-objective problem consisting of finding a resilience strategy that minimizes recovery operation time and maximizes the LSP/lambdaSP restorability. A solution to this problem is proposed where a hybrid resilience framework is used to achieve restoration in the MPLS layer to complement path switching in the MPlambdaS layer. We evaluate the performance of the TE model when rerouting the tunnels carrying the traffic offered to a 23- and 31-node networks. Simulation reveals that the hybrid resilience model performs better than classical recovery mechanisms. In terms of restorability, quality of rerouting paths and rerouting stability     

Network Design and Cost Optimization for Label Switched Multilayer Photonic IP Networks

Dealing with the explosive increase in the amount of Internet traffic requires high-speed and huge capacity Internet protocol (IP) backbone networks. Existing IP backbone networks are constructed using point-to-point wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) transmission systems, where all the wavelengths are terminated link-by-link, so that rather expensive optical/electrical conversions are necessary at every node. In these systems, since every IP packet is routed at each intermediate node based on the header information, a header processing bottleneck will occur when the node input traffic exceeds several hundreds of gigabits per second. In order to mitigate these problems, an optical cross-connect (OXC) function that employs wavelength routing of the optical paths (OPs) will provide an effective solution. This paper proposes a network design method where electrical and photonic multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) technologies are used; the network is referred to as a photonic IP network. We first propose new algorithms that minimize the network cost in a multilayered network comprising electrical label switched paths (LSPs) and optical LSPs (optical paths that are controlled using the MPLS mechanism). The particular point of the proposed algorithms is that they include different cost minimization scenarios appropriate for the different OLSP provisioning conditions that are chosen as the first step in the design stage. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithms and the benefits of the OLSPs are quantitatively evaluated through various simulations.     

RATES: a server for MPLS traffic engineering

It has been suggested that one of the most significant reasons for multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network deployment is network traffic engineering. The goal of traffic engineering is to make the best use of the network infrastructure, and this is facilitates by the explicit routing feature of MPLS, which allows many of the shortcomings associated with current IP routing schemes to be addressed. This article describes a software system called Routing and Traffic Engineering Server (RATES) developed for MPLS traffic engineering. It also describes some new routing ideas incorporated in RATES for MPLS explicit path selection. The RATES implementation consists of a policy and flow database, a browser-based interface for policy definition and entering resource provisioning requests, and a Common Open Policy Service protocol server-client implementation for communicating paths and resource information to edge routers. RATES also uses the OSPF topology database for dynamically obtaining link state information. RATES can set up bandwidth-guaranteed label-switched (LSPs) between specified ingress-egress pairs. The path selection for LSPs is on a new minimum-interference routing algorithm aimed at making the best use of network infrastructure in an online environment where LSP requests arrive one by one with no a priori information about future requests. Although developed for an MPLS application, the RATES implementation has many similarities in components to an intradomain differentiated services bandwidth broker     

A Bandwidth Guaranteed Integrated Routing Algorithm in IP over WDM Optical Networks

In this paper, we have developed an integrated online algorithm for dynamic routing of bandwidth guaranteed label switched paths (LSPs) in IP-over-WDM optical networks. Traditionally, routing at an upper layer (e.g., IP layer) is independent of wavelength routing at the optical layer. Wavelength routing at the optical layer sets up a quasi-static logical topology which is then used at the IP layer for IP routing. The coarse-grain wavelength channels and the pre-determined virtual topologies with respect to some a priori assumed traffic distribution are barriers to efficient resource use and inflexible to changing traffic. We take into account the combined knowledge of resource and topology information at both IP and optical layers. With this added knowledge, an integrated routing approach may extract better network efficiencies, be more robust to changing traffic patterns at the IP layer than schemes that either use dynamic routing information at the IP layer or use a static wavelength topology only. LSP set-up requests are represented in terms of a pair of ingress and egress routers as well as its bandwidth requirement, and arrive one-by-one. There is no a priori knowledge regarding the arrivals and characteristics of future LSP set-up requests. Our proposed algorithm considers not only the importance of critical links, but also their relative importance to routing potential future LSP set-up requests by characterizing their normalized bandwidth contribution to routing future LSP requests with bandwidth requirements. Moreover, link residual bandwidth information that captures the link's capability of routing future LSPs is also incorporated into route calculation. Extensive simulation was conducted to study the performance of our proposed algorithm and to compare it with some existing ones, such as the integrated minimum hop routing algorithm and the maximum open capacity routing algorithm. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithm performs better than both routing algorithms in terms of the number of LSP set-up requests rejected and the total available bandwidth between router pairs.     

Optimum Arrangement of Reliable Label-Switched Paths in MPLS Over Optical Networks

In MPLS (Multi-Protocol Label Switching) over optical networks, both the optical level and the MPLS level fault recovery can be considered. Generally, a more flexible path arrangement can be realized by the MPLS level recovery, while fast recovery can be achieved by the optical level recovery. When the optical level recovery is adopted, only normal traffic is carried through the working lightpaths and only recovered traffic is carried through the backup lightpaths. In contrast, the working LSPs (Label-Switched Paths) and the backup LSPs corresponding to other working LSPs can be accommodated into an identical lightpath when the MPLS level recovery is adopted. By such sophisticated accommodation of LSPs into the lightpaths, lightpath bandwidth can be utilized efficiently under the condition that the bandwidth utilization is restricted to attain the given objective of transfer quality for the MPLS packets in the normal state and unrestricted in a short time a failure occurs somewhere in the network. This paper proposes a simple mathematical programming model to obtain the optimum arrangement of the working and backup LSPs assuming the MPLS level recovery and a practical LSPs provisioning mode. By comparing the minimized network cost obtained from the optimum arrangement of the working and backup LSPs with the network cost resulting from the optical level recovery, this paper quantitatively evaluates the effectiveness of such bandwidth utilization improvement obtained from the MPLS level recovery and reveals that the MPLS level recovery can actually reduce the network cost due to its flexible arrangement of LSPs on the lightpaths.     

一种用于光网络的高效业务疏导辅助图及动态业务疏导算法

利用辅助图,研究了光网络中的业务疏导技术。为解决传统的辅助图存在着模型复杂、波长通道的带宽利用率不高等问题,提出一种新的业务疏导辅助图,能够更有效地利用已有波长通道,避免低效的路由;为了降低动态业务疏导算法的复杂度,提出了一种简化的k最短路径算法,并以此为基础提出了多种疏导策略。仿真结果表明,本文提出的辅助图及其业务疏导算法,可以有效地减少阻塞率。     

Hop constraint based admission and fairness control in IP-over-WDM networks

From both user and operator perspectives, fairness is an important aspect in IP-over-WDM networks where Label Switched Paths (LSPs) are dynamically groomed over optical networks. The setup of LSPs with long distances experiences a higher blocking probability due to both lightpath establishment unfairness in the optical layer and link cascading effect in the IP/MPLS layer. A simple LSP connection admission and fairness control mechanism is proposed in this article. This control mechanism is based on hop constraint, in which an LSP is accepted with a pre-assigned probability according to its distance and the hops of its route. Through suppressing connection of short-distance LSPs that overuse bandwidth to facilitate the setup of LSPs with long distances, this proposal achieves fine distance fairness performance with a slight overall blocking probability increment.     

Efficient Distributed Bandwidth Management for MPLS Fast Reroute

As service providers move more applications to their IP/MPLS (multiple protocol label switching ) backbone networks, rapid restoration upon failure becomes more and more crucial. Recently MPLS fast reroute has attracted lots of attention as it was designed to meet the needs of real-time applications, such as voice over IP. MPLS fast reroute achieves rapid restoration by computing and signaling backup label switched path (LSP) tunnels in advance and re-directing traffic as close to failure point as possible. To provide a guarantee of bandwidth protection, extra bandwidth has to be reserved on backup paths. Using path merging technique as described in IETF RFC 4090 only, the network is able to share some bandwidth on common links among backup paths of the same service LSP, i.e., so-called intra-sharing. But no solution is provided on how to share bandwidth among backup paths of different service LSPs, i.e., so-called inter-sharing. In this paper, we provide an efficient distributed bandwidth management solution. This solution allows bandwidth sharing among backup paths of the same and different service LSPs, i.e., both intra-sharing and inter-sharing, with a guarantee of bandwidth protection for any single node/link failure. We also propose an efficient algorithm for backup path selection with the associated signaling extensions for additional information distribution and collection. To evaluate our schemes, we compare them via simulation with the basic MPLS fast reroute proposal, IETF RFC 4090, on two networks. Our simulation results show that using our bandwidth management scheme can significantly reduce restoration overbuild from about 250% to about 100%, and our optimized backup path selection can further reduce restoration overbuild to about 60%.     

Waveband Grooming based on Layered Auxiliary Graph in multi-domain optical networks

With the number of wavelengths on fibers keeps increasing, the size and the cost of Optical Cross-Connect (OXC) are greatly enhanced and then the control and management of optical switches become more and more complicated. Therefore, the technique called waveband switching is proposed to reduce the size and the cost of OXC; that is, to save the All-Optical (OOO) switching ports in OXC. However, the existing waveband switching algorithms are all limited in single-domain optical networks. Actually, with the scale of optical backbone keeps enlarging, the network is divided to multiple independent domains to perform the hierarchy routing for achieving the scalability. In order to reduce the size and the cost of OXC meanwhile to achieve the scalability in multi-domains, in this paper we propose a new heuristic algorithm called Waveband Grooming with Layered Auxiliary Graph (WGLAG) since the waveband grooming problem is the NP-hard to perform the inter-domain routing based on the virtual topology of multi-domain network and the intra-domain routing based on the physical topology of single-domain network. In intra-domain routing with waveband grooming of each single-domain, we propose the Layered Auxiliary Graph (LAG) that includes one virtual topology layer and multiple waveband-plane layers to compute a single-hop, or multi-hop or hybrid waveband route for each connection request based on the sub-path waveband grooming scheme. Simulation results show that, WGLAG not only can effectively save more switching ports to reduce the cost of OXC but also can obtain lower blocking probability than other algorithm.     

An Innovative Solution for Dynamic Bandwidth Engineering in IP/MPLS Networks with QoS Support

This paper reports an original module for effectively handling bandwidth resources in a multi-service MPLS network. This module, named bandwidth engineering, allows accommodating more traffic with respect to traditional IP networks, reducing the network blocking probability, while preserving Class of Service (CoS) requirements. It consists of an algorithm that handles priority between label switched paths associated to different classes of services, and of a dynamic routing algorithm that works with the bandwidth constraint. Simulation results are reported to assess the validity of the proposed solution.     

QoS aware traffic grooming and integrated routing on IP over WDM networks

In this article, we consider traffic grooming and integrated routing in IP over WDM networks. The challenges of this problem come from jointly considering traffic grooming, IP routing, and lightpath routing and wavelength assignment (RWA). Due to the high bandwidth of optical fiber, there exists a mismatch between the capacity needed by an IP flow and that provided by a single lightpath. Traffic grooming is therefore used to increase the network utilization by aggregating multiple IP flows in a single lightpath. However, traffic grooming incurs additional delays that might violate Quality-of-Service (QoS) requirements of IP users. In this work, the tradeoff between traffic grooming and IP QoS routing is well-formulated as a mixed integer and linear optimization problem, in which the revenue from successfully provisioning IP paths is to be maximized. Problem constraints include IP QoS, routing, optical RWA, and the WDM network capacity. We propose a novel Lagrangean relaxation (LGR) algorithm to perform constraint relaxation and derive a set of subproblems. The Lagrangean multipliers are used in the proposed algorithm to obtain a solution in consideration of grooming advantage and resource constraints simultaneously. Through numerical experiments and comparisons between the proposed algorithm and a two-phase approach, LGR outperforms the two-phase approach under all experimental cases. In particular, the improvement ratio becomes even more significant when the ratio of IP flow to the wavelength capacity is smaller.     

Issues on loop prevention in MPLS networks

In multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) networks, data packets are forwarded through label-switched paths (LSPs) which are set up using a label distribution protocol. Since any label distribution protocol makes use of information obtained from the layer 3 routing protocol, and the routing protocol may not be loop-free, there is a possibility of an LSP forming a loop. This article focuses on MPLS loop prevention by which LSPs are prevented from forming loops. Especially, two loop prevention algorithms that have been proposed to the IETF are simulated to investigate the number of control messages required for setting up or reconfiguring LSPs over an actual routing protocol     

Layer-preference policies in multi-layer GMPLS networks

We address the problem of routing Label Switched Paths (LSPs) in multi-layer networks based on the Generalized MultiProtocol Label Switching (GMPLS) paradigm. In particular, we pursue policies for choosing the appropriate layer to host a new LSP request, as we find that such layer-preference policies have significant impact on network performance. We discuss several simple layer-preference policies and we reveal why these simple policies ruin network performance in the long run. Consequently, we develop an efficient heuristics, the Min-phys-hop routing and wavelength assignment algorithm, to govern the selection of the best layer of a multi-layer network in which to host new LSP requests. We discuss the applicability of this algorithm with respect to the state-of-the-art GMPLS standards, above all, the GMPLS routing extensions to OSPF-TE. By extensive simulations, we justify that the Min-phys-hop algorithm produces close-to-optimal blocking and resource consumption under almost all possible selections of input parameters, and this is regardless of the wavelength and Optical-Electrical-Optical (OEO) conversion capability present in the network.     

A scalable QoS routing model for diffserv over MPLS networks

In this paper, we present a new Quality of Service (QoS) routing model for Differentiated Services (Diffserv) over Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks. We use a pre-established multi-path model in which several MPLS label switching paths (LSPs) are established between each ingress-egress router pair in advance. Ingress routers perform per-request admission control and bulk-type resource reservation based on the resource availability on the associated LSPs. We use a utilization-based dynamic load balancing scheme to increase resource utilization across LSPs. The proposed model increases signaling and state scalability in the network core. It also provides hard QoS guarantees and minimizes admission control time. The experimental results verify the achievements of our model under various network topologies and traffic conditions.     

Traffic engineering in next-generation optical Networks

In this article traffic-engineering issues regarding network survivability, traffic grooming, impairment-aware routing, virtual-topology engineering, and coordination among multiple layers of network architecture will be reviewed for next-generation optical networks based on Wavelength-Division Multiplexing (WDM). Due to the recent progress and development of WDM technology, increasing traffic demands can be readily accommodated in the next-generation optical networks. In spite of the huge amount of capacity (e.g., OC-192) provided by a WDM channel, enhanced network services and network performance improvement can only be achieved with efficient traffic-engineering mechanisms. The fault-tolerant function is essential in order to provide seamless services to users by protecting their traffic against failures in the optical network because many connections can be carried on a fiber. Because the capacity of a WDM channel is very large, its bandwidth may not be efficiently utilized by a single connection. Hence, low-rate user connections need to be efficiently aggregated through the traffic-grooming scheme. An intelligent routing algorithm is especially necessary in the optical network where signal impairments due to device imperfections might degrade the signal quality. In addition, the virtual network connectivity (topology) should be flexibly maintained such that dynamic changes to the traffic demands can be easily absorbed, which can be implemented by the virtualtopology engineering method in a WDM network. As the dominant usage of Internet Protocol (IP) of the Internet is expected to reside directly above the WDM layer in the future network, the coordinated trafficengineering scheme should be deliberately designed for the multi-layer network by judiciously choosing where to put many overlapping functions in the different network layers.     

Routing bandwidth guaranteed paths with local restoration in label switched networks

The emerging multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) networks enable network service providers to route bandwidth guaranteed paths between customer sites. This basic label switched path (LSP) routing is often enhanced using restoration routing which sets up alternate LSPs to guarantee uninterrupted connectivity in case network links or nodes along primary path fail. We address the problem of distributed routing of restoration paths, which can be defined as follows: given a request for a bandwidth guaranteed LSP between two nodes, find a primary LSP, and a set of backup LSPs that protect the links along the primary LSP. A routing algorithm that computes these paths must optimize the restoration latency and the amount of bandwidth used. We introduce the concept of "backtracking" to bound the restoration latency. We consider three different cases characterized by a parameter called backtracking distance D: 1) no backtracking (D=0); 2) limited backtracking (D=k); and 3) unlimited backtracking (D=/spl infin/). We use a link cost model that captures bandwidth sharing among links using various types of aggregate link-state information. We first show that joint optimization of primary and backup paths is NP-hard in all cases. We then consider algorithms that compute primary and backup paths in two separate steps. Using link cost metrics that capture bandwidth sharing, we devise heuristics for each case. Our simulation study shows that these algorithms offer a way to tradeoff bandwidth to meet a range of restoration latency requirements.     

弹性光网络中面向任播业务的节能路由算法

为提高数据中心间光互联网络的能效,面向任播业务提出一种具有业务持续时间感知的混合路径传输节能路由算法.为了减少新建光路和工作元器件数量,优先采用单路径传输;若业务阻塞则以传输能耗最小化为目标进行多路径传输.除此之外,引入基于频谱预留的业务疏导策略来降低保护带宽和光收发器的开销.仿真结果表明:与传统节能路由算法相比,所提算法在显著降低网络能耗的同时,有效避免了业务阻塞率的过度增加,实现了网络能耗与性能的平衡.     

A Preemption-Aware On-line Routing Algorithm for MPLS Networks

In the context of Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), we look at the problem of organizing the mapping of Label Switched Paths (LSPs) in an optimal way throughout the network on the basis of a given objective function. This problem is highly combinatorial and makes dynamic and real-time features a difficult issue for any LSP routing scheme. For this reason, we propose a computationally efficient, though approximate, on-line scheme adapted to an incremental optimization of the network state. We also propose an integration of a computationally efficient preemption mechanism into this approximation. The efficiency of this algorithm is obtained through a very rigid but seemingly appropriate policy concerning which LSPs are appropriate for preemption. A feedback from preemption on the routing process is proposed, in order to regulate the rate of the reroutings and to tune the balance between stability and continuous reorganization in a network.     

Simultaneous effect of connection admission control in distance and bandwidth capacity on WDM network performance

This article presents an algorithm for dynamic-routing and wavelength assignment (D-RWA) in an optical WDM network. The approach is based on a genetic algorithm (GA) and it includes a connection admission control (CAC), to provide a network with simultaneous fairness in distance and bandwidth capacity. The algorithm is evaluated by means of computer simulations using a mesh network with two types of node architectures capable of performing traffic grooming. Combining the two types of nodes, the performance of four network configurations is compared. Assuming that one of the two node types is more costly, two sparse node allocations are suggested to maintain the network cost-effective. The algorithm assigns wavelengths to the ligthpaths, routes the traffic streams, manages the grooming of sub-wavelength tributaries onto full wavelength channels, provides fairness, and minimizes the overall blocking probability of connection requests. Numerical results attest the usefulness of the proposed approach considering several scenarios of distance and bandwidth capacity classes of requests. Simultaneous and isolated simulations of the two fairness schemes are also compared, emphasizing the versatility of the algorithm.