Robust path design algorithms for traffic engineering with restoration in MPLS networks

SUMMARY In this paper we study traffic engineering in Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) networks. We consider off-line computation of disjoint working and restoration paths where path rerouting is used as the restoration scheme. We first compute maximum number of paths for each demand such that paths satisfy diversity requirements. Using the generated path set we study four different approaches for selecting working and restoration paths, and formulate each method as an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) problem. The first two methods treat working and restoration path design problems separately. We propose two new path design methods that jointly optimize the working and restoration paths. A traffic uncertainty model is developed in order to evaluate performances of these four approaches based on their robustness with respect to changing traffic patterns. We compare these design approaches based on the number of additional demands carried and the distribution of residual capacity over the network. It is shown through simulations that the weighted load balancing method proposed in this paper outperforms the other three methods in handling traffic demand uncertainty.