| 主权项 |
1. A method in a network element for improved load distribution in a network that includes the network element, wherein the network element is one of a plurality of network elements in the network each of which implement a common algorithm tie-breaking process as part of a computation used to produce minimum cost shortest path trees, the network element includes a database to store the topology of the network, a set of service attachment points is mapped to network elements in the topology for services individually associated with an equal cost tree (ECT) set and associated with per service bandwidth requirements, wherein the topology of the network includes a plurality of network elements and links between the network elements, the method to generate multiple ECT tree sets for connectivity establishment and maintenance of the connectivity in the network, the method defining a bandwidth aware path selection, the method reduces the coefficient of variation of link load across the entire network, the method comprising the steps of:
determining a set of equal cost shortest paths between each network element pair based upon the topology of the network; checking whether a tie exists between multiple equal cost shortest paths from the set of equal cost shortest paths; applying the common algorithm tie-breaking process where the tie exists between multiple equal costs shortest paths; determining a link bandwidth utilization value and a link available bandwidth value for each link of the network; selecting a network element pair associated with an ECT to be added to the network that have attachment points to a common service instance that has been assigned to that ECT set; determining a set of candidate paths between the network element pair; generating a path identifier for each candidate path, where the path identifier is constructed from link available bandwidth values lexicographically sorted from lowest value to highest value; ranking candidate shortest paths by link available bandwidth of path identifier; checking whether a tie exists between highest ranked candidate paths by path identifiers; storing a highest ranked candidate path by path identifier in the forwarding database where no tie exists between highest ranked candidate paths by path identifiers; and applying the common algorithm tie breaking process to highest ranked candidate paths by path identifier where the tie exists between highest ranked candidate paths by path identifiers. |
