Controlled incremental multi-protocol label switching (mpls) traffic engineering

A system comprising:

• an path optimizer that is configured to:
• receive:
• a model of a network that includes links between nodes of the network,
• a current configuration of the network that includes a plurality of virtual circuits,
• one or more constraints related to the virtual circuits, and
• one or more objectives relative to optimizing the virtual circuits;
• selectively unroute a plurality of selected routes associated with one or more of the virtual circuits, the plurality of routes being substantially fewer than a totality of the routes associated with the plurality of virtual circuits;
• a router that is configured to reroute the plurality of the routes to produce a modified set of virtual circuits;
• and
• a report generator;
• wherein
• the path optimizer is further configured to:
• evaluate the modified set based on the one or more objectives, subject to the one or more constraints;
• and
• repeat the selective unrouting, rerouting, and evaluating to provide a plurality of modified sets of virtual circuits;
• and
• select one or more preferred modified sets of the plurality of modified sets for presentation to the user, based on an evaluation of each of the plurality of modified sets;
• and
• the report generator is configured to present a measure based on the evaluation of each of the preferred modified sets as a function of the number of changes in the set relative to the current configuration.

A computer readable media that includes a computer program that is configured to cause a processing system to:

• receive:
• a model of a network that includes links between nodes of the network,
• a current configuration of the network that includes a plurality of virtual circuits,
• one or more constraints related to the virtual circuits, and
• one or more objectives relative to optimizing the virtual circuits;
• selectively unroute a plurality of selected routes associated with one or more of the virtual circuits, the plurality of routes being substantially fewer than a totality of the routes associated with the plurality of virtual circuits;
• and
• reroute the plurality of the routes to produce a modified set of virtual circuits;
• evaluate the modified set based on the one or more objectives, subject to the one or more constraints;
• and
• repeat the selective unrouting, rerouting, and evaluating to provide a plurality of modified sets of virtual circuits;
• select one or more preferred modified sets of the plurality of modified sets, based on an evaluation of each of the plurality of modified sets;
• and
• present a measure based on the evaluation of each of the preferred modified sets as a function of the number of changes in the set relative to the current configuration.