DEFT: Distributed Exponentially-Weighted Flow Splitting

— Network operators control the flow of traffic through their networks by adapting the configuration of the underlying routing protocols. For example, they tune the integer link weights that interior gateway protocols like OSPF and ISIS use to compute shortest paths. The resulting optimization problem—to find the best link weights for a given topology and traffic matrix—is computationally intractable even for the simplest objective functions, forcing the use of local-search techniques. The optimization problem is difficult because these protocols split traffic evenly along shortest paths, with no ability to adjust the splitting percentages or direct traffic on other paths. In this paper, we propose an extension to these protocols, called Distributed Exponentially-weighted Flow SpliTting (DEFT), where the routers can direct traffic on non-shortest paths, with an exponential penalty on longer paths. DEFT leads not only to a simpler optimization problem, but also to weight ...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2007
• Where: INFOCOM
• Authors: Dahai Xu, Mung Chiang, Jennifer Rexford
• Keywords: Communications, INFOCOM 2007, Link Weights, Optimization Problem, Shortest Paths