Engineering the Multi-Service Internet: MPLS and IP-based Techniques

IP Differentiated Services (DiffServ) is seen as the framework to support quality of service (QoS) in the Internet in a scalable fashion, turning it to a global multiservice network. In this context, integrated service/network management and traffic control mechanisms are of paramount importance for service provisioning and network operation, aiming to satisfy the QoS requirements of contacted services while optimising the use of underlying network resources. In this paper, after briefly introducing an architectural framework for integrated service/network management and control, we concentrate in its traffic engineering aspects comparing and contrasting two different approaches: MPLS-based explicit routed paths and IP-based hop-by-hop routing. We consider relatively longterm network dimensioning based on the requirements of contracted services and subsequent dynamic route and resource management that react in shorter time scales to statistical traffic fluctuations and varying network conditions.