Traffic Engineered Multicast Content Delivery Without MPLS Overlay

Multicast traffic engineering (TE) has recently attracted significant attention given the emergence of point-to-multipoint multimedia content delivery over the Internet. Existing multicast resource provisioning solutions tend to use explicit-routing based TE with multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) tunnels. In this paper, we shift away from this overlay approach and address native IP multicast traffic engineering based on link state routing protocols. The objective is that, through plain protocol independent multicast-sparse mode (PIM-SM) shortest path routing with optimized multitopology IGP (MT-IGP) link weights, the resulting multicast trees are geared towards minimal consumption of bandwidth resources. We apply genetic algorithms (GA) to the calculation of optimized MT-IGP link weights that specifically cater for engineered PIM-SM routing with statistical bandwidth guarantees in multimedia content delivery. Our evaluation results show that GA-based multicast traffic engineering consumes significantly less bandwidth in comparison to conventional IP approaches while also exhibiting higher service availability     

Energy-aware traffic engineering: A routing-based distributed solution for connection-oriented IP networks

The present paper deals with energy saving in IP networks and proposes a distributed energy-aware traffic engineering solution, named DAISIES, for switching off network links according to traffic variations. DAISIES works in a connection-oriented network, e.g. an IP/MPLS network, and follows a routing-based approach, i.e. it acts on the routing algorithm whilst link switch-off/on are consequence of routing decisions. The basic idea is to re-compute the path of each traffic demand when its requested capacity changes. A specific cost function is used to compute link weights into the shortest path routing algorithm with the goal of keeping unused as many links as possible. The main advantages of DAISIES can be summarized as follows: (i) no changes are required to current routing and signaling protocols, (ii) packet loss is completely avoided, (iii) both traffic decreasing and increasing and changing network conditions are automatically managed, and (iv) link switch-off/on take place transparently to the routing protocol and to other nodes. The performance of the proposed solution is evaluated in terms of energy saving relative to a static network optimized to support the peak traffic. Results show that DAISIES is able to save about 30% of energy in several traffic conditions. Moreover, it is shown that it is possible keeping the additional complexity low and still reaching high energy efficiency.     

一种区分服务域内的IP流量规划方法

IP流量规划与区分服务结合是增强网络服务质量保证的新方法.在分析区分服务对流量规划需求的基础上,设计了区分服务与流量规划结合的功能框架,提出了适合流量规划要求的队列调度方法和流量分割与映射的原理与方法.流分割方法基于表对数据流进行分割.该方法既能体现区分服务数据包的转发优先级的差异,又能保证数据流的延迟与同步要求.     

基于软件定义网络的流量工程

作为一种新型网络架构,软件定义网络(software defined network,简称SDN)将网络的数据层和控制层分离,通过集中化控制和提供开放控制接口,简化网络管理,支持网络服务的动态应用程序控制.流量工程通过对网络流量的分析、预测和管理,实现网络性能的优化.在SDN中开展流量工程,可以为网络测量和管理提供实时集中的网络视图,灵活、抽象的控制方式以及高效、可扩展的维护策略,具有突出的研究意义.对基于SDN的流量工程相关工作进行综述.分别从测量的方法、应用和部署角度出发,对SDN中流量测量的基本框架、基于测量的正确态检测以及测量资源的管理进行概述.分析传统网络流量调度方案的问题,介绍SDN中数据流量和控制流量调度的主要方法.从数据层和控制层两个方面概述SDN中故障恢复方法.最后,总结并展望未来工作.     

P2P as a CDN: A new service model for file sharing

Traditional content distribution networks (CDNs), such as Akamai, replicate content at thousands of servers worldwide in an attempt to bring it closer to end users. Recent years have, however, brought a surge of peer-to-peer (p2p) systems that have demonstrated the ability both to help traditional CDN operations and to effectively disseminate content as independent applications. Unfortunately, this p2p surge has created significant problems to network operators by generating large volumes of inter-AS traffic. In this paper, we demonstrate that stepping back and applying traditional CDN design principles to p2p systems can help solve these emerging problems. In particular, focusing on the BitTorrent swarming protocol, we show that our new service model can, in the common case, reduce inter-AS traffic by 45–75%. Moreover, in scenarios when ISPs are shaping inter-AS traffic, it speeds up download times by 60% for the most popular torrents.Our approach bases on disproving the common wisdom that the current peer altruism in p2p systems (BitTorrent in particular) is insufficient. We thus abandon the common approach of deploying novel incentives for cooperation, and focus on designing methods to effectively utilize existing system resources. We show that controlled regional-based content replication, common for the traditional CDN design, can effectively achieve this goal. We implement our system and demonstrate that it effectively scales. Moreover, it is incrementally deployable and brings significant benefits in partial deployment scenarios. ISPs and network regions in which the system gets deployed can resolve their inter-AS traffic problems instantly and autonomously, i.e., without any inter-ISP collaboration and without requiring that the system gets deployed in the entire Internet.     

Traffic Engineering of Management Flows by Link Augmentations on Confluent Trees

Service providers rely on the management systems housed in their Network Operations Centers (NOCs) to remotely operate, monitor and provision their data networks. Lately there has been a tremendous increase in management traffic due to the growing complexity and size of the data networks and the services provisioned on them. Traffic engineering for management flows is essential for the smooth functioning of these networks to avoid congestion, which can result in loss of critical data such as billing records, network alarms, etc. As is the case with most intra-domain routing protocols, the management flows in many of these networks are routed on shortest paths connecting the NOC with the service provider’s POPs (points of presence). This collection of paths thus forms a “confluent” tree rooted at the gateway router connected to the NOC. The links close to the gateway router may form a bottleneck in this tree resulting in congestion. Typically this congestion is alleviated by adding layer two tunnels (virtual links) that offload the traffic from some links of this tree by routing it directly to the gateway router. The traffic engineering problem is then to minimize the number of virtual links needed for alleviating congestion. In this paper we formulate a traffic engineering problem motivated by the above mentioned applications. We show that the general versions of this problem are hard to solve. However, for some simpler cases in which the underlying network is a tree, we design efficient algorithms. In particular, we design fully polynomial-time approximate schemes (FPTAS) for different variants of this problem on trees. We use these algorithms as the basis for designing efficient heuristics for alleviating congestion in general (non-tree) service provider network topologies.     

网络平滑算法在流量工程中的应用

流量工程是当前IP网络解决QoS问题的关键技术之一。然而目前实现流量工程的LSP分布算法一般只对网络资源的利用率进行优化，可能导致网络负载的不平衡。文中引入网络负载平滑度的概念，定义了链路代价函数。针对当前主要的LSP分布算法“带宽．跳数算法”在网络负载平滑度方面的不足，提出由代价函数控制的网络平滑算法，并对算法进行了分析，最后给出相应的实验结果和结论。     

Applications of meta‐heuristics to traffic engineering in IP networks

Intra‐domain routing protocols are based on shortest path first (SPF) routing, where shortest paths are calculated between each pair of nodes (routers) using pre‐assigned link weights, also referred to as link metric. These link weights can be modified by network administrators in accordance with the routing policies of the network operator. The operator's objective is usually to minimize traffic congestion or minimize total routing cost subject to the traffic demands and the protocol constraints. However, determining a link weights combination that best suits the network operator's requirements is a difficult task. This paper provides a survey of meta‐heuristic approaches to traffic engineering, focusing on local search approaches and extensions to the basic problem taking into account changing demands and robustness issues with respect to network failures.     

Dynamic traffic engineering for mixed traffic on international networks: Simulation and analysis on real network and traffic scenarios

In this paper, a novel distributed dynamic traffic engineering (Dynamic TE) mechanism is proposed. The mechanism periodically updates bandwidth reservation and selects the optimum path (resizing and rerouting) for each TE-LSP according to its computed traffic load, leading to path reoptimization and better network utilization. Different resizing policies are investigated and their effect on QoS is analyzed. Detailed performance analysis is then undertaken using simulations on conditions similar to an international transit network. A mixed load of voice and data traffic originating in different timezones is used on a realistic network where all the links have an independent probability of failure. The simulation results show significant performance improvement using Dynamic TE for several metrics of interest and give insight into several scenarios that could benefit from its deployment.     

割边链路故障对网络流量的影响分析

在骨干网络中,几乎每天都会发生链路故障。链路故障会导致流量损失或转移。本文应用概率论方法给出了流量损失时间及转移时间与相应的协议配置及故障特性的量化关系 。研究结果可用来指导协议配置以减少故障对流量的影响。     

软件定义卫星网络的链路故障检测和恢复方案

针对具有星间链路的卫星网络,提出了一种软件定义卫星网络架构下的链路故障检测和恢复方案。首先基于软件定义卫星网络架构设计了一种主动上报式故障检测机制,并设计了链路故障检测算法,实现对卫星网络中链路故障的快速发现和准确定位。在此基础上,提出了一种保护加恢复式故障恢复机制来快速恢复因故障导致的业务中断。最后在原型系统中对该方案进行了验证。实验结果表明,该方案可以在毫秒级的时间内快速检测并准确定位到链路故障,并可以在10±2ms的时间内对故障进行快速恢复。同时,该方案可适用于多种卫星网络拓扑。     

A novel path protection scheme for MPLS networks using multi-path routing

Multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) is an evolving network technology that is used to provide traffic engineering (TE) and high speed networking. Internet service providers, which support MPLS technology, are increasingly demanded to provide high quality of service (QoS) guarantees. One of the aspects of QoS is fault tolerance. It is defined as the property of a system to continue operating in the event of failure of some of its parts. Fault tolerance techniques are very useful to maintain the survivability of the network by recovering from failure within acceptable delay and minimum packet loss while efficiently utilizing network resources.In this paper, we propose a novel approach for fault tolerance in MPLS networks. Our approach uses a modified (k, n) threshold sharing scheme with multi-path routing. An IP packet entering MPLS network is partitioned into n MPLS packets, which are assigned to node/link disjoint LSPs across the MPLS network. Receiving MPLS packets from k out of n LSPs are sufficient to reconstruct the original IP packet. The approach introduces no packet loss and no recovery delay while requiring reasonable redundant bandwidth. In addition, it can easily handle single and multiple path failures.     

MPLS流量工程仿真

在通信网络中,负载不均衡或部分网络失效常常会引起网络拥塞问题,导致业务的服务质量下降.相对于传统的动态路由协议解决此类问题所具有的局限性,MPLS流量工程是解决问题的一种有效途径.在计算机网络仿真平台上,设计了动态路由协议和MPLS流量工程仿真实例,通过运行仿真,获取了它们的网络性能及业务服务质量数据.通过对仿真结果进行比较和分析,可以看出,MPLS流量工程通过更为灵活的方式在多条链路上实现负载分担,可以改进网络资源利用率,当链路或节点失效时,能够提供快速的恢复机制.     

Adaptive reconfiguration of data networks using genetic algorithms

Genetic algorithms are applied to an important, but little investigated, network design problem, that of reconfiguring the topology and link capacities of an operational network to adapt to changes in its operating conditions. These conditions include: which nodes and links are unavailable; the traffic patterns; and the quality of service (QoS) requirements and priorities of different users and applications. Dynamic reconfiguration is possible in networks that contain links whose endpoints can be easily changed, such as satellite channels, terrestrial wireless connections, and certain types of optical connections. We report preliminary results that demonstrate the feasibility of performing genetic search quickly enough for online adaptation.     

基于流量工程的ECRP设计与实现

对基于MPLS的流量工程进行了深入探讨与分析,并着重研究其关键技术:约束路由算法。主要包括以下几个方面:介绍MPLS技术的基本原理,并在此基础上分析了如何基于MPLS技术实现流量工程(MPLS TE);分析了当前的约束路由算法,提出了一种能用于某ATM交换机的增强型约束路由协议(Enhanced Constraint-based Routing Protocol,简称ECRP),它能够维护全网的拓扑及链路状态信息。从中选择满足用户约束条件的路由,使得整个网络在一定程度上达到流量均衡。     

MPLS感知区分服务的流量工程的研究

分析了MPLS区分服务和流量工程这两种技术;由于在一些应用情景下,需要使流量工程能够感知流量的类型,因此引入了MPLS感知区分服务的流量工程的方案,来建立基于类的流量中继。着重论述了该解决方案的各个方面,包括路径的计算、建立路径的信令、带宽约束模型等。     

On open shortest path first related network optimisation problems

The paper deals with flow allocation problems in IP networks using open shortest path first (OSPF) routing. Its main purpose is to discuss and propose methods for finding settlements of OSPF link weight system realising the assumed demand pattern for the given network resources (links capacities). Such settlements can result in a significantly better network performance, as compared with the simplified weight setting heuristics typically used nowadays. Although the configuration of the link weight system is primarily done in the network planning phase, still additional re-optimisations are feasible, and in fact essential, in order to cope with major changes in traffic conditions and with major resources’ failures and rearrangements.

The paper formulates a relevant OSPF routing optimisation problem, proves its NP-completeness, and discusses possible heuristic approaches and related optimisation methods for solving it. Two basic approaches are considered (the direct approach and the two-phase approach) and the resulting optimisation algorithms are presented. The considerations are illustrated with numerical results.     

一种最小化最大带宽利用率的TE路由算法

随着网络中流量的迅速增长，流量工程对于减小拥塞、提高网络资源的使用效率、满足业务的QoS要求，正在起着越来越重要的作用．提出了一种对Dijkstra算法进行改进的最小化最大带宽利用率TE路由算法．该算法在搜寻路径的过程中，将原来Dijkstra算法中的以路径代价最小为目标，更改为以最小化最大带宽利用率为目标．仿真证明，算法在一定程度上达到了均衡负载分布的作用．     

基于双种群遗传算法的MPLS流量工程研究

针对因特网流量的快速增加和对服务质量要求的不断提高,为避免网络数据流过大造成拥塞问题,利用MPLS流量工程的路由算法成为业界研究的重点。介绍了MPLS流量工程的工作机制,并提出了数学模型。MPLS流量工程的关键问题是LSP的分布优化问题,针对这一问题的Np-hard特性,提出一种基于双种群策略的遗传算法求解方法,算法采用自然数编码来提高搜索效率。算法中,两个子种群周期性地交流最优染色体,进一步提高了性能。仿真实验表明,提出的算法能有效提高搜索速度,增加获得最优解的概率。     

基于粒子群权值优化的网络可生存性增强方法

针对网络中发生频率最高的单链路瞬时故障,提出了一种应用粒子群算法优化链路权值来增强网络可生存性的方法。引入费用函数对利用率过高的链路赋以惩罚性的高费用来避免链路过载,以网络在无故障场景下最高链路费用与单链路故障场景下最高链路费用的加权和作为目标函数,建立了优化算法模型,并应用粒子群优化算法求解最优权值。实验结果表明,算法求得的权值可以使网络在故障条件下保持较低的链路利用率,避免了因流量转移而造成网络拥塞,增强了网络可生存性。