Patent ID: 7200117

Claim:
A method for selecting routing information to be provided to forwarding devices in a communication network, comprising: obtaining information describing a plurality of alternative routes between forwarding devices of said communication network from a single routing table, wherein said plurality of alternative routes is deadlock free; selecting a final enabled routing from said plurality of alternative routes, wherein said selecting optimizes a performance metric, wherein said Performance metric is network capacity, wherein selecting the final enabled routing further comprises: determining a first set of data flows between end nodes attached to said communication network, wherein said first set of data flows is determined, at least in part, responsive to a first one of said alternative routes; determining, responsive to said first set of data flows, a first standard deviation, wherein said first standard deviation describes a distribution of said first set of data flows across links in said communication network; determining a second set of data flows between end nodes attached to said communication network, wherein said second set of data flows is determined response to a second one of said alternative routes; determining, responsive to said second set of data flows, a second standard deviation, wherein said second standard deviation describes a distribution of said second set of data flows across links in said communication network; comparing said first standard deviation and said second standard deviation; selecting said first one of said alternative routes in the event that said first standard deviation is lower than said second standard deviation; and selecting said second one of said alternative routes in the event that said second standard deviation is lower than said first standard deviation; and delivering a forwarding table to each forwarding device in said communication network, the forwarding tables containing no alternative routes and causing the forwarding devices to implement the final enabled routing.