The Applicability of the PCE to Computing Protection and Recovery Paths for Single Domain and Multi-Domain Networks.

The Path Computation Element (PCE) provides path computation functions in support of traffic engineering in Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) and Generalized MPLS (GMPLS) networks. A link or node failure can significantly impact network services in large-scale networks. Therefore it is important to ensure the survivability of large scale networks which consist of various connections provided over multiple interconnected networks with varying technologies. This document examines the applicability of the PCE architecture, protocols, and procedures for computing protection paths and restoration services, for single and multi-domain networks. This document also explains the mechanism of Fast Re-Route (FRR) where a point of local repair (PLR) needs to find the appropriate merge point (MP) to do bypass path computation using PCE.