Congestion managed traffic engineering services in multiprotocol label switching and generalized multiprotocol label switching networks

1. A method for mitigating congestion in a multi protocol label switching (MPLS) network, comprising:

monitoring, at a network element, a traffic drop count due to traffic queue overflow on at least one of a traffic queue coupled to a link and a network interface coupled to the link;

converting the traffic drop count to a normalized congestion indicator for the at least one of the traffic queue and the network interface; and

optimizing, based on the normalized congestion indicator, a route of a label switched path in the MPLS network so the route avoids the link.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising advertising the normalized congestion indicator to a second network element with a type length value element.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising, at the second network element:

configuring a point of local repair node to monitor a service quality of the label switched path by checking for the advertised normalized congestion indicator;

comparing the advertised normalized congestion indicator to a threshold value; and

triggering, if the advertised normalized congestion indicator degrades beyond the threshold value, a protection switchover of the label switched path to a back-up route.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

estimating a time delay required to drain the queued traffic, based on an average queue length and a packet scheduling rate; and

advertising the time delay to a second network element with a type length value element.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the optimizing includes rerouting the route using a resource reservation protocol make-before-break procedure or a generalized multiprotocol label switching resource reservation protocol tunnel rerouting.

6. An apparatus configured to mitigate congestion in a multi protocol label switching (MPLS) network, comprising:

means for monitoring, at a network element, a traffic drop count due to traffic queue overflow on at least one of a traffic queue coupled to a link and a network interface coupled to the link;

means for converting the traffic drop count to a normalized congestion indicator for the at least one of the traffic queue and the network interface; and

means for optimizing, based on the normalized congestion indicator, a route of a label switched path in the MPLS network so the route avoids the link.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising means for advertising the normalized congestion indicator to a second network element with a type length value element.

8. The apparatus of claim 6 , further comprising:

means for estimating a time delay required to drain the queued traffic, based on an average queue length and a packet scheduling rate; and

means for advertising the time delay to a second network element with a type length value element.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the means for optimizing includes means for rerouting the route using a resource reservation protocol make-before-break procedure or a generalized multiprotocol label switching resource reservation protocol tunnel rerouting.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the means for optimizing is integrated with at least one of an optical transport network (OTN) device, a reconfigurable optical switch, a Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) device, a Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) network device, an Intelligent Ethernet demarcation device, an inter-carrier demarcation device, a media conversion device, an edge router, and an aggregation platform extension device, and a network element configured to change Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) attributes.

11. An apparatus configured to mitigate congestion in a multi protocol label switching (MPLS) network, comprising a processor configured to:

monitor, at a network element, a traffic drop count due to traffic queue overflow on at least one of a traffic queue coupled to a link and a network interface coupled to the link;

convert the traffic drop count to a normalized congestion indicator for the at least one of the traffic queue and the network interface; and

optimize, based on the normalized congestion indicator, a route of a label switched path in the MPLS network so the route avoids the link.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to advertise the normalized congestion indicator to a second network element with a type length value element.

13. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to:

calculate a time delay required to drain the queued traffic, based on an average queue length and a packet scheduling rate; and

advertise the time delay to a second network element with a type length value element.

14. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the optimizing includes rerouting the route using a resource reservation protocol make-before-break procedure or a generalized multiprotocol label switching resource reservation protocol tunnel rerouting.

15. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the processor is integrated with at least one of an optical transport network (OTN) device, a reconfigurable optical switch, a Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) device, a Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) network device, an Intelligent Ethernet demarcation device, an inter-carrier demarcation device, a media conversion device, an edge router, and an aggregation platform extension device, and a network element configured to change Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) attributes.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, comprising:

instructions stored thereon that, if executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

monitor, at a network element, a traffic drop count due to traffic queue overflow on at least one of a traffic queue coupled to a link and a network interface coupled to the link;

convert the traffic drop count to a normalized congestion indicator for the at least one of the traffic queue and the network interface; and

optimize, based on the normalized congestion indicator, a route of a label switched path in the MPLS network so the route avoids the link.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, if executed by a processor, further cause the processor to advertise the normalized congestion indicator to a second network element with a type length value element.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, if executed by a processor, further cause the processor to:

calculate a time delay required to drain the queued traffic, based on an average queue length and a packet scheduling rate; and

advertise the time delay to a second network element with a type length value element.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the optimizing includes rerouting the route using a resource reservation protocol make-before-break procedure or a generalized multiprotocol label switching resource reservation protocol tunnel rerouting.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the processor is integrated with at least one of an optical transport network (OTN) device, a reconfigurable optical switch, a Synchronous Optical Network (SONET) device, a Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) network device, an Intelligent Ethernet demarcation device, an inter-carrier demarcation device, a media conversion device, an edge router, and an aggregation platform extension device, and a network element configured to change Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (OAM) attributes.