An off-line traffic engineering model for MPLS networks

In this study, an offline traffic engineering model for multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) networks is introduced. The model aims at mapping the traffic trunks, consisting of both best-effort traffic and traffic with QoS requirements, onto the network. For an optimal network management, three different objectives are taken into consideration, namely minimal routing delay, optimal load-balance in the network, and minimal splitting of traffic trunks. This multi-criteria network optimization problem is formulated as a mixed integer problem. A case study is carried out in order to analyze the basic properties of the model and the trade-off between the objectives for different types of traffic.