System and method for reserving a virtual connection in an IP network

摘要

A method and system for reserving a virtual connection from a source workstation to a destination workstation. Packets of data are transmitted over a network between an ingress node of the source workstation and an egress node of the destination workstation. In accordance with the method of the present invention, a reservation request is delivered from the source workstation to a reservation server. The reservation server includes a user database for storing the identification of each user allowed to access to the reservation server and also stores the rights of each user. The reservation server further includes a network database for storing the information describing a network capacity required to set up the virtual connection. A verification is then performed to determine whether or not the reservation request may be validated in view of user information within said source workstation. A second verification is performed to determine whether or not the capacity of said network is sufficient to meet the requirements of the reservation request. In response to the capacity of the network being sufficient to meet the requirements of the reservation request, a virtual connection is established from the ingress node to the egress node.