A scheme for the dynamic formation of robust multipoint to point LSPs

Multiprotocol label switching provides a flexible forwarding mechanism for traffic engineering in data networks. A valuable way of further simplifying the forwarding process, particularly within IP networks, is through the use of multipoint to point label switched paths (LSPs); this was identified in even the earliest IETF drafts of the protocol. Whilst some work has been carried out into the formulation of such multipoint to point (MP2P) LSPs, only a couple of schemes have been proposed, and it is recognised that the formation of such LSPs is non trivial. Furthermore, resilience in such configurations has only been partially addressed. The paper describes an improved method for the creation of multipoint to point LSPs. In addition, the new notion of dynamically adaptive multipoint to point LSPs is presented in that the MP2P LSPs are created dynamically and are maintained by the exploitation of ad hoc algorithms that can lead to fast localised healing.