When a link or node fails in an IP network, the routing protocol must detect the failure, flood updated link-state information, and recompute the shortest paths. This process can take from several hundred milliseconds to several seconds, which is too long for modern real-time services. This problem is addressed by IP Fast Reroute (IP FRR) methods, which compute backup paths in advance. The most common methods include LFA (Loop-Free Alternate), Remote LFA (Remote Loop-Free Alternate), Directed LFA (Directed Loop-Free Alternate), and TI-LFA (Topology Independent Loop-Free Alternate). The proportion of paths that these methods can protect depends strongly on the network topology. An operator therefore needs a tool that calculates the protection coverage for a specific network.
In this thesis, we developed a simulator in Python. The simulator represents the network as a weighted directed graph, calculates shortest-path distances using Dijkstra's algorithm, and then, for each failure case (S, D, E), where S is the computing router, D is the destination, and E is the primary protected next hop, determines whether ECMP, LFA, Remote LFA (using the basic and extended P-space and node protection), Directed LFA, or TI-LFA provides a backup path according to the conditions defined in RFC 5286, RFC 7490, and RFC 8102. The topology is read from either a YAML description or an export of the OSPF link-state database.
We evaluated the protection coverage using three reference topologies and two operator-network topologies containing 112 and 240 routers, respectively. The primary comparison excluded edge nodes so that nodes without alternative paths to the network core would not obscure the differences between the methods.
The results showed that the protection coverage provided by LFA, Remote LFA, and Directed LFA depends on the characteristics of the topology and the link metrics. In the primary comparison excluding edge nodes, TI-LFA achieved full coverage in all evaluated topologies; consequently, neither the topology characteristics nor the link metric values affected its protection coverage.
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