Efficient distributed path selection for shared restoration connections

Abstract

In MPLS/GMPLS networks, a range of restoration schemes will be required to support different tradeoffs between service interruption time and network resource utilization. In light of these tradeoffs, path-based, end-to-end shared restoration provides a very attractive solution. However, efficient use of capacity for shared restoration strongly relies on the selection procedure of restoration paths. In this paper we propose an efficient path-selection algorithm for restoration of connections over shared bandwidth in a fully distributed GMPLS architecture. We also describe how to extend GMPLS signaling protocols to collect the necessary information efficiently. To evaluate the algorithm's performance, we compare it via simulation with two other well-known algorithms on a typical intercity backbone network. The key figure-of-merit for restoration capacity efficiency is restoration overbuild, i.e., the extra capacity required to meet the network restoration objective as a percentage of the capacity of the network with no restoration. Our simulation results show that our algorithm uses significantly less restoration overbuild (63-68%) compared to the other two algorithms (83-90%).