Automated traffic engineering using adaptive inter-class mixing

Traffic engineering (TE) optimizes the performance of a network by analyzing and regulating the data transmission. Traffic engineering with link coloring (TELIC) was proposed to automatically assign LSPs in multi-protocol label switching domain based on bandwidth and class of service attributes. TELIC dynamically assigns colors to links in the network domain on the basis of reservable bandwidth. Different classes of traffic are entitled for using different colored links. The main contribution of TELIC is segregation of premium and non-premium traffic results in predictable service for premium traffic. After the introduction of TELIC, the Internet engineering task force introduced two important bandwidth constraint models (BCM): maximum allocation model (MAM) and Russian dolls model (RDM). MAM refers to segregation/isolation of class types (CTs) with no channel pre-emption, whereas RDM refers to aggregation by allowing lower classes for using the bandwidth of higher class on availability and pre-emption when required. CT segregation in TELIC is similar to MAM; however, the inherent feature of preemption makes TELIC distinct from MAM. This article introduces an RDM version of TELIC by providing controlled traffic mixing by allowing lower classes to share the bandwidth of higher classes whenever possible. Conjunction factor and conjunction threshold are used for controlling the traffic mix. New rule set for bandwidth allocation and sharing are defined. Results show that RDM TELIC provides fair service to non-premium traffic without degrading the service for premium classes, as compared to other shortest distance-based methods.