P. Georgatsos
Algosystems S.A., 4 Sardeon St., N. Smyrni, 17121 Athens, Greece

D. P. Griffin
Department of Computer Science, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK.

This paper presents a framework for routing management in ATM networks supporting guaranteed quality connections. It discusses the rationale behind the decomposition of a routing management service into a hierarchical system comprising both the management and control planes of the network. The concepts and ideas behind a set of algorithms for implementing the desired functionality are developed and discussed.

ATM, TMN, load balancing, performance management, route design, routing, routing management, VPC, multi-class environment.

The overall objective of a routing policy is to increase the network throughput in terms of call admissions, while guaranteeing the performance of the network within specified levels. The design of an efficient routing policy is of enormous complexity, since it depends on a number of variable and sometimes uncertain parameters. This complexity is increased by the diversity of bandwidth and performance requirements of different connection types in a multi-class network environment. Furthermore, the routing policy should be adaptive to cater for changes in the network: topological changes due to faults or equipment being taken in and out of service; and changing traffic conditions.

Routing in Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks is based on Virtual Path Connections (VPCs), a route is defined as a concatenation of VPCs. It has been widely accepted that VPCs offer valuable features that enable the construction of economical and efficient ATM networks, the most important being management flexibility. Because VPCs are defined by configurable parameters, these parameters and subsequently the routes based on them can be configured and re-configured on-line by a management system according to network conditions.

To date, the majority of research work in the area of routing has been concerned with routing algorithms in isolation, rather than considering both the requirements and capabilities of the networks and the interplay with other resource management functions. One of the first attempts to design an integrated approach to the problem of routing management in multi-service ATM networks was presented by Griffin (1995).

This paper describes a general framework for tackling routing management in ATM networks. The framework encompasses both the control and management planes in a hierarchical manner assuming that route selection at call set-up time is handled by control plane functions, but according to parameters set by routing management. The routing management system is part of the management plane, and it is itself a hierarchical system operating in parallel to the network and its embedded control functionality.

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