Virtual Path Management in ATM Networks

In ATM networks, VPCs (Virtual Path Connections) could be setup permanently or semi-permanently by network administrators to form a virtual private network or temporarily by applications to group several VCCs (Virtual Channel Connections) of users. Virtual path management is of great importance in maintaining ATM network service quality. In this paper, we propose our heuristics for three problems of virtual path management: (1)Virtual Path Bandwidth Resizing Algorithm, which conducts utilization-driven virtual path bandwidth adjustment, (2)Virtual Path Rerouting Algorithm, which is based on a dynamic prioritized route search with path overwriting feature, and (3)Virtual Channel Connection Routing Algorithm, which takes into account the usage of both residual bandwidth and residual VCI (Virtual Channel Identifier) in VPCs. We develop simulation programs to examine the performance and effectiveness of the proposed heuristics.