Internet DRAFT - draft-ellson-ipo-te-link-provisioning

draft-ellson-ipo-te-link-provisioning



Network Working Group                                
Internet Draft                                        
Expiration Date: August 2001 
                                                  
                                                            John Ellson
                                                             Lily Cheng
                                                    Lucent Technologies

                                                           Admela Jukan
                                        Vienna University of Technology

                                                          Anwar Elwalid
                                                             Lijun Qian
                                                    Lucent Technologies


                                                          February 2001
                       
                                                                       
                                                     
              Closed-Loop Automatic Link Provisioning

             draft-ellson-ipo-te-link-provisioning-00.txt





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Abstract

Classic IP traffic engineering considers a fixed IP layer topology. In 
this draft, we address the limitations imposed by such static network 
topology. This work is motivated by introducing dynamically provisioned 
links to improve static IP traffic engineering constraints, and 
leverage the freedom of provisioning links on demand.

This draft introduces the concept of a closed-loop link provisioning 
process for dynamic IP link configuration in an automatically switched 
transport network. We identify major phases, which completes an 
automatic link-provisioning cycle. First in the traffic engineering 
phase, both network internal information and external information can 
be applied to proactively or reactively triggering circuit switched 
links. Secondly in the network design phase, we distinguish different 
types of link design. Finally in the choice phase, we outline a set of 
criteria for choosing a final link amongst a set of candidate links. 
The criteria are based on maximizing the value of the user network, 
where value is computed from: bandwidth, distance, and duration. We 
propose these criteria be utilized in studies of dynamic link 
provisioning leveraging automatically switched transport networks 
(ASTN).


Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1 Automatic Link Provisioning
1.2 Terminology
1.3 The Network Model
1.4 The Scope
2. Traffic Engineering: Limitation and Motivation
2.1 Classic IP/MPLS Traffic Engineering
2.2 Limitation of Static Topology of IP/MPLS Traffic Engineering
2.3 Issues of IP over Transport Networks
2.3.1 Bandwidth Mismatch
2.3.2 Time-Scale Mismatch
2.3.3 Cost/Value
2.3.4 Link Availability
3. Closed-Loop Link Provisioning Process
4. Types of Triggering Information and Triggering Mechanism
4.1 Triggering Information
4.2 Triggering Mechanisms
4.3 How They Interact
5. Choosing a Link Type of Candidate Links
6. Performance Measures and Parameters
6.1 Topology-related Performance Measures
6.2 Traffic-related Performance Measures
6.3 Duration-related Performance Measures
6.4 Their Relation
7. Choosing a Link
8. Summary

   




1. Introduction

1.1 Automatic Link Provisioning

The exponential growth of the Internet coupled with the recent advances 
in circuit network technologies has created the opportunity for on-
demand provisioning of wavelength circuits in automatically switched 
transport networks (ASTN). This on-demand automatic choice and 
configuration of circuits to be used in the IP layer is what we here 
refer to as automatic link provisioning. In such a networking scenario, 
the fundamental issue is design, ranking, and choice of an IP link, 
which is to be established by the circuit-switched layer. 

Up to now, much work has been done on the "circuit provisioning" side 
of this equation, but very little work has been done on the automatic 
design, ranking, and selection on demand of the new IP links. 

In this draft, we discuss a closed-loop link provisioning process for 
an automatically switched IP over a circuit network such as an circuit 
network. We first define the parameters and network traffic information 
within the IP network, which relate to the automatic link-provisioning 
problem. Based on such information, we will decide on the new IP links 
to be established between pairs of routers. We will also give basic 
methodologies of choosing among various candidate IP links based on 
capacity, distance, and link holding times.


1.2 Terminology

In this draft, the IP link refers to the uni-directional physical 
connection between two IP routers. Note that usually IP links are bi-
directional. Any request for a bi-directional link can then be 
accomplished by two requests, each for an uni-directional link. We 
distinguish between configurable and non-configurable IP links. A 
configurable IP link can be dynamically setup and released within the 
circuit-switched layer, thus may actively change the IP network 
topology.

We also distinguish between two different types of IP router ports, 
namely configurable IP router ports and non-configurable IP router 
ports. A configurable router port can support a configurable link, 
which can be established by using switched circuits; whereas a non-
configurable router port is not capable of dynamic link establishment 
in the transport layer. In the limit case, all ports (hence all links) 
are dynamically configurable. 



1.3 The Network Model

In this draft, we consider a networking scenario, where a number of IP 
routers are connected to a circuit-switched transport network, with 
which they interact in a user-provider relationship. The topology of 
the circuit network is hidden from the client IP network. The circuit 
network can be thought of as merely providing dynamically configurable 
IP links among the IP/MPLS routers in the client network. Here, 
configurability includes the ability to add a link, delete a link, and 
modify the parameters of a link.

We consider the IP link establishment within a single IP administrative 
domain, hence the choice of the signaling protocol, which will carry 
parameters defined in this paper, is not relevant for the time being. 
We also further assume that for exchanging and obtaining the network 
information as defined here, the only reasonable way of choosing 
between multiple demands for links is by co-operation between routers, 
which needs new protocol features and standards [newsome00]. 

In addition, the IP service model as defined by [te-ip-01] with the 
Traffic Engineering tool, which triggers a boundary client network 
element to issue a link configuration request towards the circuit 
domain (either IGP or eEGP peering) can fully support the parameter set 
as defined in this draft.



1.4 The Scope

By studying the particular example of the IP network (user) requesting 
a new link within a switched circuit network (provider), our technical 
approach can apply to a more general issue of any user network type, 
not just IP.

The performance parameters of interests for the IP links are only taken 
as constraints to the IP link choice. If a circuit connection setup 
time is too long with respect to the IP link holding time, the circuit 
is not considered for a setup.

In order to address the automatic link-provisioning problem, we will 
pursue the following questions:
- What are the limitations of static IP traffic engineering?
- What are the processes involved in automatic IP link provisioning?
- What are the performance measures involved in a IP link choice 
problem?
- How to choose amongst candidate IP links?

To answer the above questions, the remainder of this paper is organized 
as follows: Section 2 first summarizes current IP traffic engineering 
practice and its limitations. It further elaborates the advantages of 
IP traffic engineering by considering the automatically switched 
transport network. This section serves as our motivation of this work. 
Section 3 addresses our work of designing a fundamental link-
provisioning process. Section 4 identifies various information and 
mechanisms of triggering a link provisioning request. Section 5 
illustrates different link types, which can be chosen as candidate 
links, and their affects to the existing network. Section 6 defines 
performance measures related to different respects. Such performance 
measures can be used to quantify performance improvement of a dynamic 
topology.  Section 7 outlines basic criteria for choosing a final link 
among candidate links. Finally, we summarize this work and give 
possible future directions in section 8.




2 Traffic Engineering: Limitations and Motivation

2.1 Classic IP/MPLS Traffic Engineering

In traditional IP/MPLS traffic engineering, the underlying network 
topology is assumed to be relatively static [rfc2702, te-MPLS-diff]. In 
particular, the links connecting the IP/MPLS routers in the backbone 
are typically provisioned for a long period of time due to the 
difficulties of rapid reconfiguration of the links.

The main objective of IP/MPLS traffic engineering is efficient mapping 
of traffic demands onto the network topology to maximize resource 
utilization while meeting QoS constraints such as delay and packet 
loss. The traffic demands may be obtained from measurement, projection, 
customer prescription, Service Level Agreement (SLA), or combination of 
the above. The mapping may be done in a multi-period fashion 
corresponding to diurnal or weekly patterns. In a MPLS network, the 
mapping is facilitated by establishing explicit label switched paths. 
In a connectionless IP network, the mapping can be attempted by 
adjusting IGP weights. 

Traffic mapping may be performed by a TE tool, which uses the traffic 
demand matrix and certain constraints to obtain an optimum solution. 
The computation is typically done offline since it often involves 
extensive searches on multi-dimensional solution spaces. Alternatively, 
traffic mapping may be performed in a distributed fashion, which is 
typically determined online. Examples include a computation of 
constraint shortest paths between a source and a destination, and load 
balancing of traffic among multiple label switched paths between a 
source and a destination. More classification is addressed in [te-
frame].


2.2 Limitation of Static Topology of IP/MPLS Traffic Engineering

Observe that the static topology of the IP/MPLS network introduces 
limitations. Consider first the case when traffic demands are well 
estimated a priori. In this case, provisioning needs to be done 
according to the most stringent traffic demand patterns in a given 
duration (even under the assumption that the best TE plan, which can 
take advantages of multi-period traffic pattern is used). Therefore, 
network resources remain under-utilized when traffic demands are light 
(e.g., during weekends or evenings) since provisioned links cannot be 
released easily.

When the traffic demands cannot be estimated accurately, network 
planning may not be done correctly. For example, if link provisioning 
is inadequate, traffic demands can exceed the required network 
resources. This may occur because of forecasting mismatch or the 
inability of provisioning the network fast enough to meet the growth in 
resource requirements. On the other hand, it may be necessary to over-
provision the network due to the difficulties of forecasting the 
traffic growth accurately.

Furthermore, if the provisioning cycle (i.e., the time it takes to add 
resources to the network) is long, resource provisioning needs to take 
into account the projected traffic growth until the beginning of the 
next cycle. Consequently the extra network resources may be 
significantly under-utilized at the early part of a cycle if the 
projected growth is large.

These limitations motivate our work that traffic engineering must 
incorporate automatic link provisioning for dynamically configurable 
circuit networks.
    

2.3 Issues of IP Over Transport Networks

The problem of automatic link provisioning is more challenging than 
traditional static IP traffic engineering. The dynamic nature of the IP 
over switched circuit network introduces uncertainties. Some issues are 
listed below:


2.3.1 Bandwidth Mismatch

The bandwidth in the IP/MPLS networks is of finer granularity; whereas 
the bandwidth in the transport networks is of larger granularity. The 
size of an IP link may be in the order of kbps; whereas the size of a 
circuit link may be in units of bundled links. Hence, multiple IP links 
often have to be tunneled into a link to increase bandwidth 
utilization. Such a requirement makes the traffic-engineering problem 
one of the optimization problems, which may involve integer 
programming.




2.3.2 Time-Scale Mismatch

The holding time of an IP link is usually shorter than the holding time 
of an optical link, since an optical link typically contains multiple 
IP links. Tearing down one or more IP links may only result in the 
reduction of bandwidth in an optical link. Tearing down an optical link 
can only be done if all constituent IP links are torn down, or if the 
remaining IP links can be re-routed through another optical link.



2.3.3 Cost/Value

Since the establishment of a link incurs a certain cost to the client 
IP network, it is important that the cost is within a planned budget. 
This may involve re-optimization and tearing down some circuit links. 

The circuit network is a limited resource, it is important that the 
total value of the links established from a circuit network is 
maximized.





2.3.4 Link Availability

A traffic engineering design, which takes advantages of multi-period 
traffic demands, requires tearing down and re-establishing links, or 
modifying link bandwidth. It is possible that the bandwidth or circuits 
that are released may not be available again when a new request 
arrives. 

Regardless the aforementioned uncertainties, we recognize that 
automatic link provisioning is a closed-loop process. Our work is 
motivated by introducing this closed-loop process to dynamically 
provision links to improve static IP traffic engineering constraints, 
and leveraging the freedom of provisioning links on demand.




3. Closed-Loop Link Provisioning Process

This section addresses a closed-loop link provisioning process for 
dynamic link configuration in the automatically switched network. A 
closed-loop link provisioning process would automatically configure 
circuits in the circuit network (Figure 1). We identify several major 
phases, which completes an automatic link-provisioning process. They 
are traffic engineering, network design, and link choice phases. The 
input of this closed-loop provisioning process is the current measure 
state of the user network, and the result of the link choice phase is a 
target IP link, which can be configured as a switched circuit. The 
cycle is closed because changes in bandwidth or topology affect the 
state of the user network.

An IP network has network internal information and external 
information, that can be applied to proactively or reactively 
triggering switched links. Examples of internal information are: packet 
loss [rfc2680], router overload, port overload, link overload. Examples 
of external information are: SLA violations, or new SLAs. Such 
information triggers the network design to automatically configure a IP 
link. Depending on the triggering information, configuration can be 
adding, deleting circuit links, or modifying existing traffic 
parameters.

During the design phase, we distinguish three different types of links, 
which will be defined in section 5. The types are predicted by the 
information available from the measurements. 

Finally in the choice phase, a set of criteria, for choosing a final 
link amongst a set of candidate links, is needed. The criteria are 
based on the consideration of bandwidth, distance, and duration. The 
design phase identifies a set of links that would satisfy some needs; 
whereas the choice phase chooses a final set of links based on 
maximizing total value.






                    ----------------------------------
                      the state of the user network  
                    ----------------------------|-----   
                        ^         |             |
                        |         |             |
                      route    reactive       proactive
                     updates     data          data
                        |         |             +--------+
                        |         v                      |
                      +------------+     +-----------+   |
                      | traffic    |     | network   |   v
                   +--| engineering|--->-| design    |-+ |
                   |  +------------+     +-----------+ | |
                   |                                   | |
                   |                          candidates |
                   |                                   | |
                   |                             +-------------+
                   |                             | link choice |
                   |                             +-----|-------+
       -------------------------- UNI -----------------|-----------
                   |                                   |
                   |                               connection
                connection                          request
                 result                                |
                   |                                   |
                   |           +-------------+         |
                   +---<-------| configure   |---<-----+
                               +-------------+                    
                                   ^  |
                                   |  v
                    ------------------------------------
                     the state of the provider network 
                    ------------------------------------

           Figure 1 A Closed-loop Link Provisioning Process




For the on-demand provisioning of a new IP link, to be worth doing, the 
IP traffic characteristics must enable a significant sharing of 
resources in the provider network. Therefore, it enables a lower cost 
service, which can be more attractive to the IP network than a static 
topology.

Within the circuit layer a choice between candidate switched circuits 
can be made for the IP network in order to have the maximum advantages 
of a dynamic configuration. All circuits, which may be configured, are 
within the bounds requested by the IP layer, otherwise the request is 
rejected. For the remainder of this paper, we will address the tasks of 
the three phases in detail.






4. Types of Triggering Information and Triggering Mechanisms

For the traffic information that triggers the establishment of a new 
link, we will distinguish between the internal and external 
information. Based on either of these information pieces (or both), the 
performance measures and parameters of importance for triggering will 
be used in a proactive or reactive way (refer to Figure 1).

While we will define the network information sources and triggering 
mechanisms for new link request, the protocols and measurements for 
their achievement as given in [rfc2679] or [te-frame] will not be 
tackled here.

 
4.1 Triggering Information

The user network contains information, which can be used to trigger a 
configuration request. Such information can be either network internal 
information or network external information. 

Network-Internal Information The internal information deals with the 
traffic statistics collected over a certain period of time, based on 
which particular traffic flows can be established according to the 
predictable traffic patterns. The internal information can also trigger 
the reconfiguration of the existing traffic patterns for more efficient 
service-level guarantees or network throughput. This information is 
reactive but can be also used predictively by assuming cyclic traffic 
patterns.

Network-External Information The network-external information deals 
with boundary to boundary traffic requests. If such a request 
identifies an amount of resources that is needed to predict the need 
for circuits. This information can be neither estimated nor measured. 
An example of such information might be a new QoS-contract or a new 
traffic request with stringent service-level agreements. In this case, 
for example, the predictable traffic patterns as defined by the long-
term traffic measurements have to be revised. This information might 
come from the new IP network clients or from another administrative 
domain such as BGP information. 

Both external and internal information may result in similar connection 
request, yet they differ in their origin. In the case of the network-
internal information the measures of interests (e.g. packet loss) are 
obtained based on the measurements on routers and data collection 
within the network. In the case of the network-external information the 
needed resources can be estimated based on the service contract 
information related to the new traffic. 



4.2 Triggering Mechanisms

Proactive information makes possible traffic shaping for particular 
purposes, e.g., busy hour, network overload threshold, etc. The 
proactive mechanism might also use the bandwidth advertising from the 
circuit network in order to pre-estimate the links to establish. The 
bandwidth advertising might be invoked periodically.

Reactive information can trigger the establishment of new links upon 
measured performance, such as packet loss.


4.3 How They Interact

The triggering mechanisms as previously defined are the timely response 
to the network information necessary for a link set-up. The network 
failure states are the exemption. A reactive mechanism might trigger a 
request for new link upon a failure. Table 1 summarizes their 
interaction.

                    +--------------------+------------------+
                    |  internal          |  external        |
                    |  information       |  information     |
    +---------------+--------------------+------------------+
    |  proactive    |  busy hour         |  new SLA         |
    |  information  |  prediction        |                  |
    +---------------+--------------------+------------------+
    |  reactive     | packet loss        |                  |
    |  information  | traffic thresholds |                  |
    +---------------+--------------------+------------------+

Table 1 Interaction of triggering mechanism and triggering information


5. Choosing a Link Type of Candidate Links

A provider network can add or remove links from the user network. We 
distinguish three fundamentally different types of links, which can be 
constructed in response to IP network demands. As illustrated in Figure 
2, there are type1, type2, and type3 links. These three types of new 
links differ not only in the number of hops they "bridge" in the IP 
layer, but also in the topology changes that occur by adding the new 
link. For the remaining of this section, we discuss the various effects 
caused by the possible new links.



Type1:       A     a      b      c      d      e      Z
             O-----O------O------O------O------O------O
                          *      *
                          ********

Type2:       A     a      b      c      d      e      Z 
             O-----O------O------O------O------O------O
                          *             *
                          ***************

Type3:       A     a      b      c      d      e      Z
             O-----O------O------O------O------O------O
                   *                           *
                   *****************************            

Figure 2 Three types of new links: type1, type2, type3.


In Figure 2, consider an IP (user) over an circuit (provider) network, 
where traffic flows from the source node A to the destination node Z. 
There are three different types of links, which can be configured to 
add capacity to this traffic flow.

Type1 The link parallels an existing link, thereby increasing the 
capacity of the route but not otherwise changing the topology of the 
user network. 

Type2 The link is the shortest new link that can be added in some 
network path around one node. The Topology of the user network is 
modified and routing tables will need to be modified. 

Type3 The link is the longest new link, which can be added in some 
network between two nodes. The Topology of the user network is modified 
and routing tables will need to be modified. 

In the above definition, by shortest we mean the minimum reduction in 
hop count for a given path, and by longest we mean the maximum 
reduction in hop count for a given path.

The distinction between type2 and type3 is subtle. The distinction is 
in the reason for adding the new link. The type2 link is the one that 
best satisfies the reactive needs to overloads at a single node based 
on internal, local-only knowledge of traffic flows; whereas the type3 
link is the one that best satisfies the predictive needs identified by 
some external contract or SLA for future traffic.




6. Performance Measures and parameters

Each link, which is requested for configuration within the circuit 
network will be characterized by its bandwidth, duration, and distance. 
We identify performance measures with respect to topology, traffic, and 
time. These performance measures can be used to quantify performance 
improvement for the automatic link provisioning networks.


6.1 Topology-related Performance Measures

Switched port utilization is defined as the ratio of the numbers of 
active ports capable of switching a new link within the circuit network 
to the total number of all IP routers ports for automatic switching. 

This is a very rough measure of the load distribution over the dynamic 
links in the IP network provided by the circuits, since it makes no 
assumptions regarding the traffic.

Path length reduction is defined as the ratio of the number of hops 
between an IP router pair using automatically switched links 
established within the circuit network to the number of hops for the 
default routed paths between two routers without new links. For the 
path length reduction of a single link, the numerator of this ratio is 
1.

This is a direct measure of the number of hops "bridged" by a 
dynamically established link. If a link is established between two 
neighboring router pairs, then the path length reduction equals one; 
otherwise, it is smaller than one. Note that if the number of hops is a 
criterion for service accommodation with delay constraints, this will 
play an important role. The traffic that traverses a large number of 
hops should be favored to use dynamic links. 

Path length efficiency is defined as the ratio of the total number of 
hops for all IP router pairs using automatically switched circuit links 
to the total number of hops for the default routed paths. 

This is an indication of the percentage of the number of hops "reduced" 
in the network by the automatically established links. For a network 
with any switched links of type2 or type3, it is less than one. In this 
case, it means that the network only uses up to a certain percentage of 
its original links. For a network without any switched links or only 
switched links of type1, it is one. In this case, it means that the 
network uses the same number of hops with or without the circuit links.

Path length saving ratio is defined as one minus path length 
efficiency. 

This is an indication of the percentage of the number of hops "saved" 
in the network by using the automatically triggered links. If a network 
with any switched links of type2 or type3, it is greater than zero. In 
this case, it means that the network saves some percentage of hops. If 
a network without any switched links or only switched links of type1, 
it is zero. In this case, it means that the network doesn't save any 
number of hops.

Note that the aforementioned parameters: path length reduction, path 
length efficiency, and path length saving ratio are hop-count measures, 
which are by no means reflecting actual distance the traffic traveled.


6.2 Traffic-related Performance Measures

Traffic-related performance measures, which is defined below, are more 
directly related to bandwidth utilization and network efficiency than 
topology measures.

Switched port capacity utilization is defined as the ratio between the 
capacity used by an automatically switched link, and the total capacity 
available to be used by that link. 

Since the capacity of an automatically switched wavelength circuit is 
constant and corresponds to the capacity of a channel (wavelength), the 
above measure is directly proportional to the encapsulation 
(multiplexing) and translation efficiency of the IP-data packet flows 
into the circuit channel signals. This measure is related to the 
granularity with which the IP traffic is to be reallocated over the 
newly established capacity. 

Total switched port capacity utilization is defined as the ratio of the 
total capacity used by all the switched ports to the total capacity 
available to be used by those ports in a switched network.

While switched port capacity utilization indicates the translation 
efficiency for each individual automatically switched port, total 
switched port capacity utilization shows the efficiency for all 
switched ports in the network.

Traffic reallocation efficiency is defined as the ratio of the capacity 
taken over by a dynamic wavelength circuit (reallocated capacity) to 
the total capacity which has been estimated to be taken over by that 
link (overload capacity). 

Based on the idea that a dynamically established link is supposed to 
accommodate those traffic flows, for which the current network load has 
reached a level which triggers the establishment of the circuit links, 
this measure refers to the capacity utilization improvement obtained by 
this action.  

Traffic load ratio is defined as the ratio of the traffic load of an IP 
router before and after activation of one or more ports for 
automatically switched wavelength circuits. 

Packet loss ratio is defined as the ratio of the packet loss of an IP 
router before and after activation of one or more ports for 
automatically switched wavelength circuits.



6.3 Duration-related Performance Measures

Traffic integration time is defined as the time over which the traffic 
is analyzed in order to make a triggering decision for a set-up or 
torn-down of an circuit.

Link set-up time is the time it takes the circuit network provider to 
set up the requested circuit. 

Link service time refers to the user (IP) network and is the duration 
that the new circuit is in service. 

Link tear-down time is the time it takes the circuit network provider 
to tear down the requested circuit.

Link holding time is the sum of the link set up time, link service 
time, and link tear down time.


6.4 Their Relation

Generally speaking, topology parameters are of coarse granularities 
related to topology changes. Traffic parameters have finer indications 
regarding how traffic utilizes bandwidth. Adding or deleting switched 
links will affect topology-related parameters. Traffic-related 
parameters vary depending on the time instance the performance is 
measured.

7. Choosing a Link

The problem of selecting a new link that best satisfies demands for 
bandwidth is a multi-dimensional optimization problem, i.e. one that is 
mathematically "hard" and probably not possible to compute perfectly, 
even in principle. In this paper we are proposing to split the problem 
into two parts: link design, and link choice.

Link design provides a set of potential links that could be set up to 
meet some traffic need. 

Link choice ranks the set of potential links according to value (or 
more correctly, rate of return on investment), and then presents the 
reduce set of maximum value to the provider circuit network for 
implementation.  One implication of this is that a Link design may get 
refused for reasons of insufficient value, not just because of blocking 
in the circuit layer.

The value of any Link is computed from the expected utilization of: 
bandwidth*distance*time. Dimensionally: bandwidth is in bits/second, 
distance is meters, time is seconds. For any single link the logical 
distance in the user's network is just 1 (meter), so the value of a 
link is just the number of bits that it is expected
to carry in some interval of time.   

The cost of a Link can be computed by the circuit network in a similar 
fashion, as: bandwidth*distance*time. The provider calculates using 
provided bandwidth rather than utilized bandwidth, and to the provider 
the distance is a real contributor to the cost and so is probably 
computed in miles or kilometers. None of this matters much since the 
result of this expression is multiplied by some factor to give a price, 
which is what the user sees. Dimensionally this price can be still 
bandwidth*distance*time, or it can be dollars by multiplying by a rate 
term.  For the purpose of this paper we do not need to consider actual 
dollar calculations because the value-price operations (comparisons, 
additions, subtractions) can be made dimensionally valid by using terms 
that are bandwidth*distance*time.

The price of a Link then can be established when a directory lookup is 
performed at the UNI in preparation for possibly requesting a new Link 
from the circuit network. Subtracting price from value gives a number 
(positive or negative) which can be used to order a set of possible 
Link designs and thereby choose the ones that provide maximum return on 
investment.

A similar evaluation must be performed on existing links in order to 
choose Links, which provide the minimum return on investment and so 
should be taken down.


8. Summary

Our paper discusses the limitation of traditional IP traffic 
engineering. This work is motivated by introducing dynamically 
provisioned links to improve the constraints of existing practices and 
leveraging the freedom of setting up and tearing down links on demand. 
We approached the fundamental task of dynamic link provisioning by 
introducing a closed-loop process. 

In the closed-loop link provisioning process, both network internal and 
external information can be applied to proactively and reactively 
triggering dynamic link setup or teardown. We have concentrated our 
work on a set of IP layer performance measures. Associated with the 
process of automatic link provisioning, we outlined a set of criteria 
for choosing a final link amongst a set of candidate links, which are 
based on considerations of bandwidth, distance, and duration. Other 
QoS-related parameters, such as delay in IP layer, are not considered 
here and are subject to future studies. Automatic link configuration 
changes both the network topology and network performance. In order to 
leverage the freedom of automatic provision links, such a closed-loop 
process is a crucial component of dynamic traffic engineering.

While we have studied the example of the IP network using an 
automatically switched transport network, the specific choice of 
technologies is not essential to this discussion. As discussed in [te-
ip-01], our work is applicable to any dynamically switched circuits, 
which can be any non-packet-switched capable, such as fiber-switched 
paths, lambda-switched paths, or TDM-switched circuits.



9. Security Issues

This document raises no new security concerns for MPLS signaling.


10. References

[rfc2702] Awduche D. et. al. "Requirements for Traffic Engineering over 
MPLS", RFC2702, September 1999.

[newsome00] Newsome, G. "IP Traffic Engineering resulting in Optical 
Layer Connections", IETF draft draft-newsome-mgmtplanerqmts-00.txt, 
November 2000.

[te-ip-01] Duroyon O. et. al. "G.LSP Service Model framework in an 
optical G-MPLS network", IETF draft, draft-duroyon-te-ip-
optical.01.txt, November 2000.

[te-MPLS-diff] Le Faucheur et. al. "Requirements for support of Diff-
serv-aware MPLS Traffic Engineering", IETF draft, draft-ietf-mpls-diff-
te-reqts-00.txt,  November 2000.

[te-frame] Awduche, D. et. al. "A framework for Internet Traffic 
Engineering" IETF draft, draft-ietf-tewg-framework-02.txt, July 2000.

[rfc2679] Almes, G. et. al. "A One-way Delay Metric for IPPM," RFC2679, 
September 1999.

[rfc2680] Almes, G. et. al. "A One-way Packet Loss Metric for IPPM," 
RFC2680, September 1999.




11. Author Information

John Ellson
Lucent Technologies, Inc.
101 Crawfords Corner Rd
Holmdel, NJ  07733-3030 
Email: ellson@lucent.com

Lily Cheng
Lucent Technologies, Inc.
101 Crawfords Corner Rd
Holmdel, NJ  07733-3030 
Email: lilycheng@lucent.com

Admela Jukan
Vienna University of Technology
Institute of Communication Networks
Favoritenstrasse 9/388
A-1040 Vienna, Austria

Anwar Elwalid
Bell Laboratories
Lucent Technologies
Murray Hill, NJ 07974, USA
hone: 908 582-7589
Email: anwar@research.bell-labs.com

Lijun Qian
Bell Laboratories
Lucent Technologies
Murray Hill, NJ 07974, USA
Phone: 908 582-4369
Email: ljqian@research.bell-labs.com