Internet Engineering Task Force Internet-draft Te Working Group Daniel O. Awduche January 2000 Uunet (mci Worldcom)

This memo describes a framework for Traffic Engineering (TE) in the Internet. The framework is intended to promote better understanding of the issues surrounding traffic engineering in IP networks, and to provide a common basis for the development of traffic engineering capabilities for the Internet. The framework explores the principles, architectures, and methodologies for performance evaluation and performance optimization of operational IP networks. The optimization goals of traffic engineering seek to enhance the performance of IP traffic while utilizing network resources economically, efficiently, and reliably. The framework includes a set of generic requirements, recommendations, and options for Internet traffic engineering. The framework can serve as a guide to implementors of online and off-line Internet traffic engineering mechanisms, tools, and support systems. The framework can also help service providers in devising traffic engineering solutions for their networks.