A model of signaling for establishing of LSPs for multicast communication over GMPLS networks

Abstract

Label switching, which in IP networks is exemplified by MPLS and its extensions MPLambdaS and GMPLS, appears as one of the best alternatives to offer a reliable and flexible control plane for WDM networks, since it allows the integration of the IP Protocol with WDM technology, when lambdas are associated with labels, implements powerful traffic-engineering mechanisms, and provides several alternative schemes for fault-tolerance, as well as support for quality of service (QoS). However, almost all the definitions and standardizations for MPLS are restricted to unicast communication, leaving support for multicast communication for future work. In the specific case of the triggering problem for LSPs (Label Switched Paths), there is still no consensus about the best strategy for multicast communication. This paper proposes an algorithm for traffic-driven triggering of LSPs, based on MFCs (Multicast Forwarding Caches), and has the advantage of being a schema which is compatible with several multicast routing protocols. To validate the proposed algorithm we carry out simulation studies using the NS-2 (Network Simulator) simulation platform.