Hierarchical Border Gateway Protocol (HBGP) for PCE-based multi-domain traffic engineering

Abstract

In multi-domain multi-carrier networks the effective use of network resources shall be achieved while guaranteeing an adequate level of confidentiality and scalability. A candidate solution to perform effective multi- domain Traffic Engineering (TE) is based on a combination of (i) hierarchical routing and (ii) path computation procedures. Hierarchical routing identifies the domain sequence to cross while path computation computes the strict end to end path. In this multi-domain study we first propose a hierarchical instance of BGP (HBGP) dedicated to TE information only. Then we propose and evaluate the integration of HBGP with path computation procedures based on IETF PCE architecture. Simulation results show that the hierarchical HBGP-PCE architecture, compared to current routing solutions based on BGP only, significantly improves the overall network resource utilization. In addition, this study identifies the network scenarios in which the aforementioned HBGP-PCE features provide significant advantages. Finally, the experimental implementation of the proposed HBGP-PCE architecture in a network testbed composed of commercially available routers shows the viability of the solution in real networks.