Approximating optimal spare capacity allocation by successive survivable routing

The design of survivable mesh based communication networks has received considerable attention in recent years. One task is to route backup paths and allocate spare capacity in the network to guarantee seamless communications services survivable to a set of failure scenarios. This is a complex multi-constraint optimization problem, called the spare capacity allocation (SCA) problem. This paper unravels the SCA problem structure using a matrix-based model, and develops a fast and efficient approximation algorithm, termed successive survivable routing (SSR). First, per-flow spare capacity sharing is captured by a spare provision matrix (SPM) method. The SPM matrix has a dimension the number of failure scenarios by the number of links. It is used by each demand to route the backup path and share spare capacity with other backup paths. Next, based on a special link metric calculated from SPM, SSR iteratively routes/updates backup paths in order to minimize the cost of total spare capacity. A backup path can be further updated as long as it is not carrying any traffic. Furthermore, the SPM method and SSR algorithm are generalized from protecting all single link failures to any arbitrary link failures such as those generated by Shared Risk Link Groups or all single node failures. Numerical results comparing several SCA algorithms show that SSR has the best trade-off between solution optimality and computation speed.     

Capacity Optimization for Surviving Double-Link Failures in Mesh-Restorable Optical Networks

Most research to date in survivable optical network design and operation, focused on the failure of a single component such as a link or a node. A double-link failure model in which any two links in the network may fail in an arbitrary order was proposed recently in literature [1]. Three loop-back methods of recovering from double-link failures were also presented. The basic idea behind these methods is to pre-compute two backup paths for each link on the primary paths and reserve resources on these paths. Compared to protection methods for single-link failure model, the protection methods for double-link failure model require much more spare capacity. Reserving dedicated resources on every backup path at the time of establishing primary path itself would consume excessive resources. Moreover, it may not be possible to allocate dedicated resources on each of two backup paths around each link, due to the wavelength continuous constraint. In M. Sridharan et al., [2,3] we captured the various operational phases in survivable WDM networks as a single integer programming based (ILP) optimization problem. In this work, we extend our optimization framework to include double-link failures. We use the double-link failure recovery methods available in literature, employ backup multiplexing schemes to optimize capacity utilization, and provide 100% protection guarantee for double-link failure recovery. We develop rules to identify scenarios when capacity sharing among interacting demand sets is possible. Our results indicate that for the double-link failure recovery methods, the shared-link protection scheme provides 10–15% savings in capacity utilization over the dedicated link protection scheme which reserves dedicated capacity on two backup paths for each link. We provide a way of adapting the heuristic based double-link failure recovery methods into a mathematical framework, and use techniques to improve wavelength utilization for optimal capacity usage.     

Protection Schemes for IP-over-WDM Networks: Throughput and Recovery Time Comparison

This article presents a novel protection approach using Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS). This strategy provides protection at the Wavelength Division Multiplexing (WDM) layer, meaning that all Internet Protocol Label-Switched Path (IP LSPs) nested inside a lightpath are protected in an aggregated way. It uses resources efficiently since spare capacity of working primary lightpaths can be used for backup purposes whenever necessary. The IP and WDM layers are treated together as a single integrated network from a control plane point of view, so that network state information from both layers can be used. Besides discussing the strategy proposed and the key features of GMPLS that will allow its implementation, we mathematically formulate the maximum throughput problem. Thereafter, we propose and compare heuristic algorithms for IP-over-WDM networks using three protection approaches: WDM lightpath protection, IP LSP protection, and the proposed protection scheme. Their throughputs and recovery times are analyzed and compared. Our results show that, for a representative mesh network, the proposed aggregated protection scheme presents better protection efficiency and good scalability properties when compared with the other two schemes.     

WDM光网及多层网络生存性的研究

为了适应多层次网络发展的需要，在讨论WDM光层生存性机制的基础上，针对多层网络联合的生存性机制进行了仔细的分析，提出了一种多层协调的实现办法，并讨论了多层空闲资源设计中的共享问题。     

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     

Optimized design of survivable MPLS over optical transport networks

In this paper we study different options for the survivability implementation in MPLS over Optical Transport Networks (OTNs) in terms of network resource usage and configuration cost. We investigate two approaches to the survivability deployment: single-layer survivability, where some recovery mechanism (e.g. protection or restoration) is implemented in a single network layer and multilayer survivability, where recovery is implemented in multiple network layers. The survivable MPLS over OTN design is implemented as a static network optimization problem and incorporates various methods for spare capacity allocation (SCA) to reroute disrupted traffic.The comparative analysis between the single layer and the multilayer survivability shows the influence of the traffic granularity 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. For the multilayer survivability 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, this is at the increase in the optimization problem complexity. These results are based on a cost model with current technology pricing and were obtained for networks targeted to a nationwide coverage.     

A load-balancing spare capacity reallocation approach in the next-generation SONET metro networks

The next-generation SONET metro network is evolving into a service-rich infrastructure. At the edge of such a network, multiservice provisioning platforms (MSPPs) provide efficient data mapping enabled by Generic Framing Procedure (GFP) and Virtual Concatenation (VC). The core of the network tends to be a meshed architecture equipped with Multi-service Switches (MSSs). In the context of these emerging technologies, we propose a load-balancing spare capacity reallocation approach to improve network utilization in the next-generation SONET metro networks. Using our approach, carriers can postpone network upgrades, resulting in increased revenue with reduced capital expenditures (CAPEX). For the first time, we consider the spare capacity reallocation problem from a capacity upgrade and network planning perspective. Our approach can operate in the context of shared-path protection (with backup multiplexing) because it reallocates spare capacity without disrupting working services. Unlike previous spare capacity reallocation approaches which aim at minimizing total spare capacity, our load-balancing approach minimizes the network load vector (NLV), which is a novel metric that reflects the network load distribution. Because NLV takes into consideration both uniform and non-uniform link capacity distribution, our approach can benefit both uniform and non-uniform networks. We develop a greedy load-balancing spare capacity reallocation (GLB-SCR) heuristic algorithm to implement this approach. Our experimental results show that GLB-SCR outperforms a previously proposed algorithm (SSR) in terms of established connection capacity and total network capacity in both uniform and non-uniform networks.     

On the Maximum Protection Problem in IP-over-WDM Networks Using IP LSP Protection

In dynamic IP-over-WDM networks efficient fault-management techniques become more difficult since as demands change with time the optimal logical topology varies as well. Changes in the virtual topology should be done with care because working IP LSPs routed on top of a virtual topology should not be interrupted. Reconfiguration of the virtual topology may also affect precomputed backup IP LSPs to be activated in case of failure meaning that backup IP LSPs would need to be recomputed after any change in the virtual topology. A good sense solution can be the dimensioning of the virtual topology for a worst case traffic scenario, having as goal the minimization of the network cost, for example, and then route dynamic IP LSPs on this virtual topology. The virtual topology would remain unchanged as long as possible, that is, until changes in the virtual topology are considered to bring considerable benefits. Since data services over IP are essentially of a best-effort nature, protection could be provided, using IP LSP protection, only when bandwidth is available in the virtual topology. The computation of backup IP LSPs does not interfere with working IP LSPs meaning that no service interruption will exist. Such a strategy, considered in this paper, allows resources to be used efficiently, since free bandwidth is used for backup purposes, while the normal delivery of traffic is guaranteed in peak traffic situations although having no protection guarantees. Our main objective is to quantify the spare capacity, which can be used for restoration (backup) purposes, over a virtual topology designed and optimized to carry a traffic scenario with no survivability and QoS requirements. We analyse the maximum protection (MP) problem in such IP-over-WDM network environment. Protection is provided to IP LSP requests whenever possible through bandwidth reservation in a backup IP LSP on the virtual topology. Besides the mathematical formalization of the MP problem, an upper bound and heuristic algorithms are proposed and evaluated. The traffic considered includes IP LSPs of different granularities and is the worst case traffic scenario for which the network should be dimensioned.     

网状WDM网中的共享通路保护设计算法

本文研究了网状WDM网中的SRLG(Shared Risk Link Groups:共享风险链路组)分离约束下的静态共享通路保护设计问题－给定网络物理拓扑、业务量需求矩阵和工作路由,为每个波长需求确定保护路由,使得所需的备份资源最小.这个问题可以用整数线形规划公式来描述.由于这是一个NP-C问题,因此,本文提出一种启发式算法MSC(Maximally Share the Capacity)加以解决,该算法的核心思想是改变链路权重使得保护路由之间尽量共享资源.仿真结果表明,本文算法能有效地降低所需的备份资源,提高了网络的资源利用率.     

基于遗传算法的某火控系统备份功能板优化模型

通过简要分析某火控系统的维修方式,建立了备份功能板费用与此火控系统效能的函数关系。根据实际情况,建立了在备份功能板费用一定的约束条件下火控系统的功能板(印制版)随机备件优化模型,结合遗传算法解优化问题的特点,将遗传算法引入到求解备件优化问题中来,有效地解决了这一复杂的备件优化问题,保证了此火控系统具有较高的可用度。     

A spare bandwidth sharing scheme based on network reliability

Spare bandwidth is required for recovering the network service from network faults. However, it degrades the efficiency of network utilization. Spare bandwidth demand can be reduced significantly by letting spare bandwidth be shared among several network services. Spare bandwidth reserved on a network element can be shared by a set of network services for a network fault if they are not simultaneously affected by the network fault. A new, and more practical spare bandwidth sharing scheme, which is based on the network reliability, is proposed in this paper. In the proposed scheme, multiple link failures are allowed with a given link failure rate, and a reasonable restoration level of near 100%; while in the conventional scheme, only a single link failure, and 100% restoration level are considered. To develop the spare bandwidth sharing scheme, we first investigate the framework for evaluating the reliability of path-based network services, and then we explain the proposed spare bandwidth sharing scheme with decision parameters such as lifetime of the path, restoration level, and the maximum number of working paths which can be protected by a backup link. Simulation results show that the proposed spare bandwidth sharing scheme requires a smaller amount of spare bandwidth than the conventional scheme.     

Multiple link failure recovery in survivable optical networks

Survivability is of critical importance in high-speed optical communication networks. A typical approach to the design of survivable networks is through a protection scheme that pre-determines and reserves backup bandwidth considering single/double link failure scenarios. In this article, a greedy algorithm is presented to reserve backup bandwidth considering multiple (F > 2) link (SRLG) failure scenarios. A bandwidth-saving joint selection scheme of working and protection paths is presented for protection against random multiple-link failures under dynamic traffic. Simulation shows that the algorithm can achieve maximum sharing of backup bandwidth for protection against random multiple-link failure with significant amount of bandwidth saving.     

A novel shared-path protection algorithm with correlated risk against multiple failures in flexible bandwidth optical networks

In this paper, to decrease the traffic loss caused by multiple link failures, we consider the correlated risk among different connection requests when both the primary and backup paths are routed and assigned spectrum. Therefore, a novel shared-path protection algorithm is developed, named shared-path protection algorithm with correlated risk (SPP_CR), in flexible bandwidth optical networks. Based on the correlated risk, the routing can be diverse and the sharing in backup spectral resource will be restricted by SPP_CR algorithm, then the dropped traffic caused by simultaneous multiple failures between primary and backup path can be efficiently decreased. Simulation results show that, SPP_CR algorithm (i) achieves the higher successful service ratio (SSR) than traditional shared-path protection (SPP), shared-path protection with dynamic load balancing (SPP_DLB) and dedicated path protection (DPP); (ii) makes a better tradeoff in blocking probability, protection ratio (PR), average frequency slots consumed (AFSC) and redundancy ratio (RR) than SPP, SPP_DLB and DPP algorithms.     

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%.     

Hierarchical Ring Network Design Using Branch-and-Price

We consider the problem of designing hierarchical two layer ring networks. The top layer consists of a federal-ring which establishes connection between a number of node disjoint metro-rings in a bottom layer. The objective is to minimize the costs of links in the network, taking both the fixed link establishment costs and the link capacity costs into account.Hierarchical ring network design problems combines the following optimization problems: Clustering, hub selection, metro ring design, federal ring design and routing problems. In this paper a branch-and-price algorithm is presented for jointly solving the clustering problem, the metro ring design problem and the routing problem. Computational results are given for networks with up to 36 nodes.     

Failure protection in layered networks with shared risk link groups

The shared risk link group (SRLG) has been widely recognized as a fundamental concept in layered network design by the industry. However, several issues related to SRLG protections that are of both theoretical interest and practical importance have not been explored fully. Two major issues are avoiding failures caused by "traps" in finding backup paths, and minimizing the total network capacity requested by active and backup paths. In this article, we highlight the significance of the trap problem in layered networks with SRLG and evaluate the performance of several existing SRLG protection schemes in terms of trap avoidance and bandwidth efficiency, as well as their complexities. We also demonstrate that a simple yet intelligent heuristic algorithm can achieve good performance.     

Routing restorable bandwidth guaranteed connections using maximum 2-route flows

Routing with service restorability is of much importance in Multi-Protocol Label Switched (MPLS) networks, and is a necessity in optical networks. For restoration, each connection has an active path and a link-disjoint backup path. The backup path enables service restoration upon active path failure. For bandwidth efficiency, backups may be shared. This requires that at least the aggregate backup bandwidth used on each link be distributed to nodes performing route computations. If this information is not available, sharing is not possible. Also, one scheme in use for restorability in optical networks is for the sender to transmit simultaneously on the two disjoint paths and for the receiver to choose data from the path with stronger signal. This has the advantage of fast receiver-initiated recovery upon failure but it does not allow backup sharing. In this paper, we consider the problem of efficient dynamic routing of restorable connections when backup sharing is not allowed. Our objective is to be able to route as many connections as possible for one-at-a-time arrivals and no knowledge of future arrivals. Since sharing cannot be used for achieving efficiency, the goal is to achieve efficiency by improved path selection. We show that by using the minimum-interference ideas used for nonrestorable routing, we can develop efficient algorithms that outperform previously proposed algorithms for restorable routing such as routing with the min-hop like objective of finding two disjoint paths with minimum total hop-count. We present two new and efficient algorithms for restorable routing without sharing, and one of them requires only shortest path computations. We demonstrate that both algorithms perform very well in comparison to previously proposed algorithms.     

Achieving fast and bandwidth-efficient shared-path protection

Dynamic provisioning of restorable bandwidth guaranteed paths is a challenge in the design of broad-band transport networks, especially next-generation optical networks. A common approach is called (failure-independent) path protection, whereby for every mission-critical active path to be established, a link (or node) disjoint backup path (BP) is also established. To optimize network resource utilization, shared path protection should be adopted, which often allows a new BP to share the bandwidth allocated to some existing BPs. However, it usually leads the backup paths to use too many links, with zero cost in term of additional backup bandwidth, along its route. It will violate the restoration time guarantee. In this paper, we propose novel integer linear programming (ILP) formulations by introducing two parameters (/spl epsi/ and /spl mu/) in both the sharing with complete information (SCI) scheme and the distributed partial information management (DPIM) scheme. Our results show that the proposed ILP formulations can not only improve the network resource utilization effectively, but also keep the BPs as short as possible.     

Adaptive low‐priority transfer for high bandwidth and delay product networks

As the exponential growth of the Internet, there is an increasing need to provide different types of services for numerous applications. Among these services, low‐priority data transfer across wide area network has attracted much attention and has been used in a number of applications, such as data backup and system updating. Although the design of low‐priority data transfer has been investigated adequately in low speed networks at transport layer, it becomes more challenging for the design of low‐priority data transfer with the adaptation to high bandwidth delay product networks than the previous ones. This paper proposes an adaptive low‐priority protocol to achieve high utilization and fair sharing of links in high bandwidth delay product networks, which is implemented at transport layer with an end‐to‐end approach. The designed protocol implements an adaptive congestion control mechanism to adjust the congestion window size by appropriate amount of spare bandwidth. The improved congestion mechanism is intent to make as much use of the available bandwidth without disturbing the regular transfer as possible. Experiments demonstrate that the adaptive low‐priority protocol achieve efficient and fair bandwidth utilization, and remain non‐intrusive to high priority traffic. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spare Capacity Reprovisioning for Shared Backup Path Protection in Dynamic Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switched Networks

Spare capacity allocation serves as one of the most critical tasks in dynamic GMPLS networks to meet the stringent network availability constraint stipulated in the SLA of each connection. In this paper, an availability-aware spare capacity reconfiguration scheme based on shared backup path protection (SBPP) is proposed, aiming to guarantee the E2E availability of each LSP. We first provide an E2E availability model for a SBPP connection that is composed of a working and a SRG-disjoint shared backup LSP pair in the presence of all possible single, and dual simultaneous failures. Partial restoration is identified to further improve the capacity efficiency, and achieve finer service differentiation. For this purpose, restoration attempt is defined as a parameter for each connection that can be manipulated at the source node when the spare capacity of each link is scheduled. Based on the developed model, a Linear Program (LP) is formulated to perform inter-arrival spare capacity reconfiguration along each pre-determined shared backup LSP to meet the availability constraint of each connection. Simulation is conducted to verify the derived formulation, and to demonstrate the benefits gained in terms of the spare capacity saving ratio, where the conventional SBPP scheme that achieves 100% restorability for any single failure is taken as a benchmark. We will show that the simulation results validate the proposed E2E availability model, where a significant reduction on the required redundancy can be achieved in the effort of meeting a specific availability constraint for each SBPP connection.