Abstract:

Fast load balancing in Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) enabled IP networks are at most importance to utilize the resources efficiently. It splits a part of traffic called splitting ratio from a maximum loaded path in to a minimum loaded path. One very strong constrain in balancing the load is the trade-off between the delay to reach the balanced state and the oscillations at near balanced state. To overcome this constrain, in this paper, restoration support enhanced variable splitting ratio based algorithm was developed and implemented in MPLS networks using network simulator. The splitting ratio was varied adaptively but with higher granular step sizes until the difference between the cost of the maximum loaded path and the minimum loaded path reached a lower reference value called marginal level. After the marginal level, in order to avoid the oscillations, the splitting ratio was reduced to fine granular steps. The simulation results showed that the delay required to reach the balanced state was reduced with out oscillations and significant improvement in the throughput and Pocket loss ratio. Also a simple modification was done in the algorithm to support efficient restoration without consuming additional resources.

Keywords: Load Balancing, Delay, Throughput, Pocket loss ratio, Rerouting

(Full Paper 916 kB)