Modelling and constraint hardness characterisation of the unique-path OSPF weight setting problem

Abstract

Link weight is the primary parameter of OSPF, the most commonly used IP routing protocol. The problem of setting link weights optimally for unique-path OSPF routing is addressed. A complete formulation with a polynomial number of constraints is introduced and is mathematically proved to model the problem correctly. An exact algorithm is thereby proposed to solve the problem based on the analysis of the hardness of problem constraints. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.