Choosing the objectives for traffic engineering in IP backbone networks based on quality-of-service requirements

Abstract

Objectives for traffic engineering in IP core networks can be different for different Quality-of-Service classes. In this paper we study the traffic engineering objectives for best-effort flows and for virtual leased line service flows. We propose mixed integer linear programming models that can be used for off-line centralized traffic engineering with label switched paths, and develop efficient algorithms for their approximate solution. We quantify the effect of the choice of the objective chosen for traffic engineering on the network performance, and assess the benefits of distributing the traffic between a single border node pair over multiple paths.