Resource allocation in multiservice MPLS

This work deals with the problems of routing flows with QoS requirements across MPLS-capable networks. We identify the functional capabilities that should be supported in order to optimize network resource utilization, and satisfy business or service or network level QoS requirements. We focus on the design of an appropriate architecture to combine MPLS with QoS-policy-based routing-capable components. Existing label switching technologies assume that routing is accomplished by just using traditional network layer routing protocols. Consequently network administrators have no control on the way traffic navigates the network. This can easily lead to unpleasant situations where some parts of the network are congested and some others are underutilized. The future Internet imposes the demand for advanced network control and management mechanisms. Combining label switching technologies with routing mechanisms that take into account network performance metrics and at the same time give network administrators the ability to influence routing decisions according to their preferences appears to be a very clear solution to cost-effectively and efficiently engineer the future Internet. In order to accomplish that, we endorse some of the already proposed extensions to MPLS, and introduce a routing selection mechanism based on implied costs. Such implied costs reflect the network congestion as well as the interdependencies among flows in the network, and can provide the management signals for expanding or reducing the amount of resources allocated to different service classes and routes as well as performing the route selection.