Managed Bandwidth Services (MBSs) use Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees to effectively control traffic flows and reduce network delay. In the past, the provision of MBS in a global manufacturing enterprise was a difficult task for network administrators. However, advances in recently emerging technologies, such as Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), Generalized Multiprotocol Label Switching (GMPLS), Integrated Services (IntServ), Differentiated Services (DiffServ), and Constraint-based Routing (CBR), hold promise to make MBS implementation more manageable. QoS technologies, such as DiffServ and IntServ, offer the benefits of better application performance and delivery of reliable network service. As a consequence of network traffic loads, packet congestion and latency increases still exist and must be addressed by enterprises that intend to support an MBS solution. In this investigation, the author addressed an issue that is faced by many large manufacturing enterprises, i.e., the addition of latency and congestion sensitive traffic such as Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) to networks with limited bandwidth. The goal of this research was to provide global manufacturing enterprises with a model for bandwidth management in their offices and plants. This model was based on findings from a case study of traffic management at American Standard Companies.

This research is related to computer networks. In this thesis, three main issues are addressed which affect the performance of any computer network: congestion, efficient resources utilization and link failure. Those issues are related to each other in many situations. Many approaches have been suggested to deal with those issues as well as many solutions were applied. Despite all the improvements of the technology and the proposed solutions, those issues continue to be a burden on the system’s performance. This effect is related to the increase of the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements in modern networks. The basic idea of this research is evolving the intelligence of a conventional computer network when dealing with those issues by adding some features of the Software Defined Networking (SDN). This adoption upgrades the conventional computer network system to be more dynamic and higher self-organizing when dealing with those issues. This idea is applied on a system represented by a computer network that uses the Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) routing protocol. The first improvement deals with the distribution of Internet Protocol (IP) routed flows. The second improvement deals with tunnel establishment that serves Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) routed flows and the third improvement deals with bandwidth reservation when applying network restoration represented by Fast Re-route (FRR) mechanism to sooth the effect of link failure in OSPF/MPLS routed network. This idea is also applied on another system that uses the Enhanced Interior Gateway Routing Protocol (EIGRP) to improve the performance of its routing algorithm. Adopting the SDN notion is achieved by adding an intelligent controller to the system and creating a dialog of messages between the controller and the conventional routers. This requires upgrading the routers to respond to the new modified system. Our proposed approaches are presented with simulations of different configurations which produce fine results.

The ongoing development of new and demanding Internet applications requires the Internet to deliver better service levels that are significantly better than the best effort service that the Internet currently provides and was built for. These improved service levels include guaranteed delays, jitter and bandwidth. Through extensive research into Quality of Service and Differentiated Service (DiffServ) it has become possible to provide guaranteed services, however this turns out to be inadequate without the application of Traffic Engineering methodologies and principles. Traffic Engineering is an integral part of network operation. Its major goal is to deliver the best performance from an existing service provider's network resources and, at the same time, to enhance a customers' view of network performance. In this thesis, several different traffic engineering methods for optimising the operation of native IP and IP networks employing MPLS are proposed. A feature of these new methods is their fast run times and this opens the way to making them suitable for application in an online traffic engineering environment. For native IP networks running shortest path based routing protocols, we show that an LP-based optimisation based on the well known multi-commodity flow problem can be effective in removing network congestion. Having realised that Internet service providers are now moving towards migrating their networks to the use of MPLS, we have also formulated optimisation methods to traffic engineer MPLS networks by selecting suitable routing paths and utilising the feature of explicit routing contained in MPLS. Although MPLS is capable of delivering traffic engineering across different classes of traffic, network operators still prefer to rely on the proven and simple IP based routing protocols for best effort traffic and only use MPLS to route traffic requiring special forwarding treatment. Based on this fact, we propose a method that optimises the routing patterns applicable to different classes of traffic based on their bandwidth requirements. A traffic engineering comparison study that evaluates the performance of a neural network-based method for MPLS networks and LP-based weight setting approach for shortest path based networks has been performed using a well-known open source network simulator, called ns2. The comparative evaluation is based upon the packet loss probability. The final chapter of the thesis describes the software development of a network management application called OptiFlow which integrates techniques described in earlier chapters including the LP-based weight setting optimisation methodology; it also uses traffic matrix estimation techniques that are required as input to the weight setting models that have been devised. The motivation for developing OptiFlow was to provide a prototype set of tools that meet the congestion management needs of networking industries (ISPs and telecommunications companies - telcos).

During the last years, MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS) has been deployed by most large Service Providers (SP). The main driver for MPLS deployment is the ability to provide new services with stringent Service Level Agreements (SLAs) such as layer-2 and layer-3 Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) as well as Voice and Video over IP. Most of these services are already deployed inside single SP networks. However, customers now require world-wide VPN and VoIP services. Therefore, SPs need to collaborate to offer these services across multiple SP networks. Inside a single SP network, each node usually knows the complete topology of the network with the load and delay of all the links. Based on this information, each router is able to compute constrained paths toward any other router inside the SP network. Then, it can establish a connection and reserve resources along the computed path with the Resource reSerVation Protocol (RSVP-TE). However, when services with stringent requirements must cross multiple SP networks the computation of the path becomes a problem. Routers in different SP networks exchange routing information by using the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). BGP provides reachability information. It does not distribute complete topology, delay and bandwidth information. One way to provide guaranteed services crossing different SPs is to delegate the computation of the paths to a Path Computation Element (PCE) that learns the topology of the different SPs. However, this requires that SPs reveal information that they usually consider confidential, their topology. In this thesis, we perform active measurements to show the difficulty to engineer the interdomain traffic with BGP. MPLS together with RSVP-TE provide much more control on the traffic. We define extensions to RSVP-TE for the protection of inter-AS MPLS paths. The aim is to be able to provide the same service guarantees as inside a domain while keeping the internal topology of SPs confidential, as required by SPs. We propose and evaluate distributed techniques relying on PCEs for the computation of interdomain constrained paths respecting the latter confidentiality requirement.

Traffic Engineering (TE) is the stage which deals with geometric design planning and traffic operation of networks, network devices and relationship of routers for the transportation of data. TE is that feature of network engineering which concentrate on problems of performance optimization of operational networks. It involves techniques and application of knowledge to gain performance objectives, which includes movement of data through network, reliability, planning of network capacity and efficient use of network resources. This thesis addresses the problems of traffic engineering and suggests a solution by using the concept of Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS). We have done simulation in Matlab environment to compare the performance of MPLS against the IP network in a simulated environment. MPLS is a modern technique for forwarding network data. It broadens routing according to path controlling and packet forwarding. In this thesis MPLS is computed on the basis of its performance, efficiency for sending data from source to destination. A MATLAB based simulation tool is developed to compare MPLS with IP network in a simulated environment. The results show the performance of MPLS network in comparison of IP network. / YASSAR AZIZ, +46 73 9135296 MUHAMMAD NAEEM ASLAM +46 70 4918985

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The Internet has experienced tremendous growth in the last three decades and has emerged as a platform to carryall forms of communications including voice, video and data. Along with this growth came the urgency for quality of service (QoS) controls in IP networks as different types of traffics have different service requirements. Although the IP protocol is able to scale to very large networks, it does not provide sufficient functionality for traffic engineering in order to enable QoS control. Multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) is a new routing technology that enhances IP with some QoS concepts from ATM and uses relatively simple packet forwarding mechanisms. MPLS has the ability to perform traffic engineering and QoS control by routing traffic flowson virtual connections called label switched paths (LSPs) which are assigned capacity. A large portion of the traffic carried on the Internet consists of data traffic in the form of TCP traffic. This thesis investigates several TCP models to find the ones most suitable to represent TCP traffic in MPLS networks. The models consist of three types. The first type models a single TCP source and the second type models a fixed number of TCP sources. The third type models an infinite number of TCP sources. The models were evaluated by comparing their throughput predictions and results obtained from simulation experiments that were done with the widely-used simulator ns. We also present a simple derivation of the 1/,;e law for the TCP congestion window size where e is the packet loss probability. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING:In die afgelope drie dekades het die Internet beduidende groei ervaar, soveel so dat dit ontluik het as 'n medium om alle tipes van moderne kommunikasies te hanteer insluitend telefoon, video en data. Hierdie groei het gepaard gegaan met die behoefte na diensvlak (QoS) meganismes in IP netwerke aangesien verskillende tipe kommunikasies verskillende diens vereistes het. Alhoewel die IP protokol skalleerbaar is tot baie groot netwerke, voorsien dit nie voldoende funksionaliteit om QoS beheer toe te pas nie. "Multi-protocol label switching" (MPLS) is 'n nuwe roeterings tegnologie wat IP aanvul met QoS konsepte van ATM en dit maak gebruik van relatief eenvoudige pakkie versendings-meganismes. MPLS het die vermoe om netwerk-verkeer reeling en QoS beheer toe te pas deur verkeers-strome te roeteer op virtuele roetes genaamd "label switched paths" (LSPs) aan wie kapasiteit toegeken is. 'n Beduidende gedeelte van Internet-verkeer bestaan uit TCP-verkeer. Hierdie tesis ondersoek verskillende modelle van TCP om die te vind wat die mees geskik is om TCP verkeer in MPLS netwerke te verteenwoordig. Drie tipes modelle is ondersoek. Die eerste tipe moduleer 'n enkele TCP verkeersbron en die tweede tipe moduleer 'n vasgestelde aantal TCP verkeersbronne. Die derde tipe moduleer 'n oneindige aantal verkeersbronne. Die modelle is geevalueer deur hul voorspellings van die tempo van data transmissie te vergelyk met resultate van simulasies. Die simulasies is gedoen met die veelgebruikte simulator ns. Hierdie tesis bevat ook 'n eenvoudige afleiding vir die 1/,;e wet vir die TCP oorlading venster grootte met e die verlies waarskeinlikheid van 'n netwerk pakkie.

In response to the development of a next-generation networking (NGN) generalized multi-protocol label switching (GMPLS) technology is required for automatically switched optical network (ASON). Reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer (ROADM) is an indispensable device for the ASON, and the dense wavelength division multiplexed (DWDM) signals can be transmitted through the network under the management of the network administrator to configure dynamic customer needs and the desired quality of service (QoS). The ROADM can also increase the efficiency of utilizing the existing capacity of the optical fiber lines and can reduce or waive to set up additional optical fiber lines. This thesis studies a novel ROADM based on the arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) and the fiber Bragg grating (FBG) to overcome that the current ROADM cannot process that the input signal channels is greater than the wavelengths channels of AWG. Many types of ROADMs have been proposed and realized through different optical devices. Among these, hybrid optical circulator and FBG based ROADM is more attractive because of its low crosstalk and polarization insensitivity. However, it still suffers from many component counts and high insertion losses due to the use of many circulators and a multiplexer-demultiplexer pair. In this master thesis, we focus on demonstrating a novel ROADM and evaluating its crosstalk performance. It is found that the proposed ROADM has the advantage on extending the number of wavelength signal to make the system configurable and flexible.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-02T19:05:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 1680.pdf: 2540055 bytes, checksum: 6068982fae71ad51efe5f0ebb3308784 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-12-15 / The advent of grid computing made possible to access distributed resources, even when they are geographically spread or belong to different organizations. The most used environment for accessing these distributed resources is the Internet, a worldwide computer network based in TCP/IP architecture. Grid computing provides the infrastructure necessary for managing and communicating with the resources offered by different organizations. These organizations are also known as virtual organizations (VO's). Some of the applications used in these collaborating environments may have minimum requirements by quality of service (QoS). However, the "best effort" service, which is offered by Internet, is not capable to satisfy these QoS requirements. In this case, a different solution is needed, in order to provide guarantees related to the traffic in communication channels. This master thesis aims to apply the concepts of quality of service for networks in grid computing, providing end-to-end quality of service between grid computing applications. In order to achieve this goal, we investigate the use of commutation infrastructure provided by MPLS networks. Using traffic engineering mechanisms for routes determination, we aim to provide better control of data flows, improving the performance of distributed applications in geographically highly spread environments. / O surgimento da computação em grade possibilitou o acesso a recursos distribuídos que podem estar dispersos geograficamente e pertencer a diferentes organizações. O meio mais utilizado para prover acesso a tais recursos é a Internet, uma rede de computadores de alcance mundial baseada na arquitetura TCP/IP. As grades computacionais fornecem a infra-estrutura necessária à comunicação e ao gerenciamento dos recursos fornecidos por estas organizações, também conhecidas por organizações virtuais (VOs) . Algumas das aplicações utilizadas nestes ambientes colaborativos podem possuir requisitos mínimos de qualidade de serviço (QoS). Entretanto, o serviço de melhor esforço oferecido pela Internet não é capaz de satisfazer tais exigências, sendo preciso utilizar outra forma para se obter garantias em relação à capacidade de tráfego dos canais de comunicação. Este trabalho de mestrado objetiva aplicar os conceitos de qualidade de serviço de redes para o provimento de qualidade de serviço fim-a-fim nas comunicações entre aplicações para grades computacionais. Para tanto, investiga o uso da infra-estrutura de comutação provida pelas redes MPLS. Usando mecanismos de determinação de rotas em Engenharia de Tráfego, busca-se prover melhor controle dos fluxos de dados, beneficiando aplicações distribuídas em ambientes de grande dispersão física.

Die schichtenübergreifende Steuerung von Multi-Layer Netzen ermöglicht die Realisierung fortgeschrittener Netzarchitekturen sowie neuartiger Konzepte zur Steigerung der Ausfallsicherheit. Gegenstand dieser Arbeit ist ein neues ressourcensparendes Konzept zur Kompensation von Core-Router-Ausfallen in IP-Netzen. Core-Router-Ausfälle führen zur Abkopplung der an Ihnen angeschlossenen Zugangsrouter vom Netz. Daher werden die Zugangsrouter üblicherweise mit jeweils zwei oder mehreren verschiedenen Core-Routern verbunden (engl.: dual homing) was jedoch eine Verdoppelung der Anschlusskapazität im IP Netz bedingt. Bei dem neuen Verfahren - Dual Homing mit gemeinsam genutzten Router-Ersatzressourcen (engl.: dual homing with shared backup router resources, DH-SBRR) - erfolgt die Zugangsrouter-Anbindung zum einen zu einem Core-Router des IP-Netzes und zum anderen zu einem Netzelement der darunterliegenden Transportschicht. Damit lassen sich Router-Ersatzressourcen, die im IP-Netz an beliebigen Stellen vorgehalten werden können, uber das Transportnetz an die Stelle eines ausgefallenen Core-Routers schalten. Die Steuerung dieser Ersatzschaltung geschieht über eine schichten übergreifende, d.h. das Transportnetz- und IP-Netz umfassende Control-Plane - beispielsweise auf Basis von GMPLS. Da beim Umschalten der Routerressourcen auch aktuelle Zustände (bspw. Routing-Tabellen) auf die Router-Ersatzressourcen mit übertragen werden müssen, beinhaltet das neue Verfahren auch Konzepte zur Router-Virtualisierung. Zum Vergleich und zur Bewertung der Leistungsfähigkeit des neuen DH-SBRR Verfahrens werden in der Arbeit verschiedene Zugangsrouter-Homing-Varianten hinsichtlich Netz-Kosten, Netz-Verfügbarkeit, Recovery-Zeit und Netz-Energieverbrauch gegenübergestellt. Als Multi-Layer Netzszenarien werden zum einen IP über WDM und zum anderen IP über OTN (ODU) betrachtet. Zur Bestimmung der minimalen Netz-Kosten ist ein generisches Multi-Layer Netzoptimierungsmodell entwickelt worden, welches bei unterschiedlichen Homing-Architekturen angewendet werden kann. Neben dem Optimierungsmodell zur Netzkostenminimierung wird auch eine Modellvariante zur Minimierung des Energieverbrauchs vorgestellt. Um die Rechenzeit für die Lösung der Optimierungsprobleme zu verringern und damit auch größere Netzszenarien untersuchen zu können bedarf es heuristischer Lösungsverfahren. Im Rahmen der Arbeit ist daher eine neue speziell auf die Multilayer-Optimierungsprobleme zugeschnittene Lösungsheuristik entwickelt worden. Aus der Netzkosten-Optimierung ergibt sich, dass durch den Einsatz von DH-SBBR signifikante Kosteneinsparungen im Vergleich zu herkömmlichen Homing-Architekturen realisiert werden können. Änderungen der Verkehrslast, der Kosten der IP-Netzelemente oder der Netztopologie haben keinen signifikanten Einfluss auf dieses Ergebnis. Neben dem Kosten- und Energieeinsparungspotential sind auch die Auswirkungen auf die Netz-Verfügbarkeit und die Recovery-Zeit untersucht worden. Für die Ende-zu-Ende Verfügbarkeit bei Anwendung der verschiedenen Homing-Architekturen Können untere Grenzwerte angegeben werden. Zur Bestimmung der Recovery-Zeit bei Einsatz von DH-SBRR ist ein eigenes analytisches Berechnungsmodell entwickelt und evaluiert worden. Damit kann das DH-SBRR Verfahren zur Einhaltung vorgegebener Recovery-Zeiten (wie sie für bspw. Für bestimmte Dienste gefordert werden) entsprechend parametriert werden. / The emergence of multi-layer networking capabilities opens the path for the development of advanced network architectures and resilience concepts. In this dissertation we propose a novel resource-efficient homing scheme: dual homing with shared backup router resources. The proposed scheme realizes shared router-level redundancy, enabled by the emergence of control plane architectures such as generalized multi-protocol label switching. Additionally, virtualization schemes complement the proposed architecture. Different homing architectures are examined and compared under the prism of cost, availability, recovery time and energy efficiency. Multiple network layers are considered in Internet protocol over wavelength division multiplexing as well as Internet protocol over optical data unit settings - leading to the development of multi-layer optimization techniques. A generic multi-layer network design mathematical model, which can be applied to different homing architecture considerations, is developed. The optimization objective can be adapted to either minimizing the cost for network equipment or the power consumption of the network. In order to address potential issues with regard to computational complexity, we develop a novel heuristic approach specifically targeting the proposed architecture. It is shown that significant cost savings can be achieved - even under extreme changes in the traffic demand volume, in the cost for different types of network equipment, as well as in the network topology characteristics. In order to evaluate occurring tradeoffs in terms of performance, we study the effects on availability and recovery time. We proceed to derive lower bounds on end-to-end availability for the different homing architectures. Additionally, an analytical recovery time model is developed and evaluated. We investigate how service-imposed maximum outage requirements have a direct effect on the setting of the proposed architecture.

Die schichtenübergreifende Steuerung von Multi-Layer Netzen ermöglicht die Realisierung fortgeschrittener Netzarchitekturen sowie neuartiger Konzepte zur Steigerung der Ausfallsicherheit. Gegenstand dieser Arbeit ist ein neues ressourcensparendes Konzept zur Kompensation von Core-Router-Ausfallen in IP-Netzen. Core-Router-Ausfälle führen zur Abkopplung der an Ihnen angeschlossenen Zugangsrouter vom Netz. Daher werden die Zugangsrouter üblicherweise mit jeweils zwei oder mehreren verschiedenen Core-Routern verbunden (engl.: dual homing) was jedoch eine Verdoppelung der Anschlusskapazität im IP Netz bedingt. Bei dem neuen Verfahren - Dual Homing mit gemeinsam genutzten Router-Ersatzressourcen (engl.: dual homing with shared backup router resources, DH-SBRR) - erfolgt die Zugangsrouter-Anbindung zum einen zu einem Core-Router des IP-Netzes und zum anderen zu einem Netzelement der darunterliegenden Transportschicht. Damit lassen sich Router-Ersatzressourcen, die im IP-Netz an beliebigen Stellen vorgehalten werden können, uber das Transportnetz an die Stelle eines ausgefallenen Core-Routers schalten. Die Steuerung dieser Ersatzschaltung geschieht über eine schichten übergreifende, d.h. das Transportnetz- und IP-Netz umfassende Control-Plane - beispielsweise auf Basis von GMPLS. Da beim Umschalten der Routerressourcen auch aktuelle Zustände (bspw. Routing-Tabellen) auf die Router-Ersatzressourcen mit übertragen werden müssen, beinhaltet das neue Verfahren auch Konzepte zur Router-Virtualisierung. Zum Vergleich und zur Bewertung der Leistungsfähigkeit des neuen DH-SBRR Verfahrens werden in der Arbeit verschiedene Zugangsrouter-Homing-Varianten hinsichtlich Netz-Kosten, Netz-Verfügbarkeit, Recovery-Zeit und Netz-Energieverbrauch gegenübergestellt. Als Multi-Layer Netzszenarien werden zum einen IP über WDM und zum anderen IP über OTN (ODU) betrachtet. Zur Bestimmung der minimalen Netz-Kosten ist ein generisches Multi-Layer Netzoptimierungsmodell entwickelt worden, welches bei unterschiedlichen Homing-Architekturen angewendet werden kann. Neben dem Optimierungsmodell zur Netzkostenminimierung wird auch eine Modellvariante zur Minimierung des Energieverbrauchs vorgestellt. Um die Rechenzeit für die Lösung der Optimierungsprobleme zu verringern und damit auch größere Netzszenarien untersuchen zu können bedarf es heuristischer Lösungsverfahren. Im Rahmen der Arbeit ist daher eine neue speziell auf die Multilayer-Optimierungsprobleme zugeschnittene Lösungsheuristik entwickelt worden. Aus der Netzkosten-Optimierung ergibt sich, dass durch den Einsatz von DH-SBBR signifikante Kosteneinsparungen im Vergleich zu herkömmlichen Homing-Architekturen realisiert werden können. Änderungen der Verkehrslast, der Kosten der IP-Netzelemente oder der Netztopologie haben keinen signifikanten Einfluss auf dieses Ergebnis. Neben dem Kosten- und Energieeinsparungspotential sind auch die Auswirkungen auf die Netz-Verfügbarkeit und die Recovery-Zeit untersucht worden. Für die Ende-zu-Ende Verfügbarkeit bei Anwendung der verschiedenen Homing-Architekturen Können untere Grenzwerte angegeben werden. Zur Bestimmung der Recovery-Zeit bei Einsatz von DH-SBRR ist ein eigenes analytisches Berechnungsmodell entwickelt und evaluiert worden. Damit kann das DH-SBRR Verfahren zur Einhaltung vorgegebener Recovery-Zeiten (wie sie für bspw. Für bestimmte Dienste gefordert werden) entsprechend parametriert werden. / The emergence of multi-layer networking capabilities opens the path for the development of advanced network architectures and resilience concepts. In this dissertation we propose a novel resource-efficient homing scheme: dual homing with shared backup router resources. The proposed scheme realizes shared router-level redundancy, enabled by the emergence of control plane architectures such as generalized multi-protocol label switching. Additionally, virtualization schemes complement the proposed architecture. Different homing architectures are examined and compared under the prism of cost, availability, recovery time and energy efficiency. Multiple network layers are considered in Internet protocol over wavelength division multiplexing as well as Internet protocol over optical data unit settings - leading to the development of multi-layer optimization techniques. A generic multi-layer network design mathematical model, which can be applied to different homing architecture considerations, is developed. The optimization objective can be adapted to either minimizing the cost for network equipment or the power consumption of the network. In order to address potential issues with regard to computational complexity, we develop a novel heuristic approach specifically targeting the proposed architecture. It is shown that significant cost savings can be achieved - even under extreme changes in the traffic demand volume, in the cost for different types of network equipment, as well as in the network topology characteristics. In order to evaluate occurring tradeoffs in terms of performance, we study the effects on availability and recovery time. We proceed to derive lower bounds on end-to-end availability for the different homing architectures. Additionally, an analytical recovery time model is developed and evaluated. We investigate how service-imposed maximum outage requirements have a direct effect on the setting of the proposed architecture.