Utilization of temporary reservation of path computed resources for multi-domain path computation element protocols in WDM networks

Abstract

In recent years, Path Computation Element (PCE) architecture has been standardized as a suitable solution for path computation in multi-domain network scenarios. The Traffic Engineering Database (TED) of the PCE is updated with the information of the control plane. However, there is a delay from the PCE replies to a request, until the TED is updated with the network status information. This delay includes not only the control plane delay, but also Path Computation Element Protocol (PCEP) information exchange. This desynchronization in the TED and the real status information leads to an extra blocking situation when the Label Switch Router (LSR) tries to reserve a path, but it has been previously reserved by other LSR. To solve such problem, a recent draft is submitted to the IETF proposing new PCEP extensions for a pre-reservation of the computed path resources for a certain period. This work implements in C three multi-domain algorithms: Per-domain Path Computation, Backward-Recursive PCE-based Computation and Hierarchical Path Computation Element and it assesses their performance with and without mechanisms to reduce this extra blocking probability due to the uncertainty of the TED information.