Efficient network management applied to source routed networks

Current high-performance interconnects are switch-based systems using either distributed or source routing. They usually incorporate a set of management mechanisms in charge of detecting and assimilating any topological change. When a change occurs, in order to restore the connectivity among endpoints, these mechanisms must obtain the resulting topology, and compute and distribute a new set of valid fabric paths. It is desirable that the change assimilation process is fast, deadlock-free and with reduced contribution to the network service degradation. Traditional proposals, which are related to the path distribution phase, are only focused on networks that use distributed routing and, therefore, they are not directly applicable to source routed environments. The objective of this paper is to present and evaluate an efficient network management scheme applied to source routed networks, incorporating several mechanisms for all phases involved in the change assimilation process. The main novelty of this scheme is the proposal of a mechanism to dynamically update the routing paths.

Research highlights
► An efficient management scheme for assimilating topological changes in source routed networks is proposed.
► The proposed scheme significantly reduces the change assimilation time and the amount of packets discarded.
► This scheme virtually eliminates the problem of reduced network service availability.
► The proposed scheme does not require the use of specific fabric resources to operate.