Patent ID: 7376121

Claim:
In a network communications environment comprising a plurality of network nodes, a plurality of communications links among network nodes, and a control unit, the plurality of network nodes comprising a plurality of host network nodes and a plurality of router network nodes, a method for the control unit to produce routing information, the method comprising: receiving topology information about the network communications environment; receiving inter-node communications information; computing routing information for at least one router network node, the computing based, at least in part, on the received topology information and on the received inter-node communications information, wherein computing routing information comprises applying a max-fair algorithm to the received topology information and to the received inter-node communications information using a multi-commodity flow implementation, wherein applying the max-fair algorithm comprises first satisfying demand in a fair manner and then satisfying remaining demand by maximizing a sum of allocated flow rates; computing, at the control unit, bandwidth allocation information for at least one router network node, the computing based, at least in part, on the received topology information and on the received inter-node communications information, wherein computing bandwidth allocation information comprises applying the max-fair algorithm to the received topology information and to the received inter-node communications information using the multi-commodity flow implementation; and sending the bandwidth allocation information to the at least one router network node.