Fast Recovery Paths: Reducing Packet Loss Rates during IP Routing Convergence

Abstract

In high speed IP networks, interior gateway protocols, like OSPF, cannot obtain a new route to bypass a failure in time. These protocols' convergence period can vary from hundreds of milliseconds to tens of seconds. During this time there is instability, causing high packet loss rates. This study proposes a proactive approach of fast recovery paths to aid OSPF bypass failures. An evaluation of these paths was conducted, which showed the recovery paths are shorter than other similar approaches and they significantly reduce the packet loss rate during the OSPF convergence period caused by a failure.