Patent ID: 8537836

Claim:
A computer program product comprising non-transitory computer readable storage media having encoded therein instructions executable by a processor, said instructions comprising: a first set of instructions executable on a computer system to broadcast a plurality of resource request packets to a plurality of nodes in an optical network; a second set of instructions executable on said computer system to identify a plurality of nodes with sufficient resources, wherein said nodes with sufficient resources are ones of said nodes having a resource necessary to support a virtual path said second set of instructions comprises a first subset of instructions executable on said computer system to receive an allocation request at an intermediate node, a second subset of instructions executable on said computer system to, if said resource necessary to support said virtual path is available on said intermediate node, forward said allocation request from said intermediate node, and allocate said resource necessary to support said virtual path, on said intermediate node, a third subset of instructions executable on said computer system to, if said resource necessary to support said virtual path is unavailable on said intermediate node, return a negative response from said intermediate node; a third set of instructions executable on said computer system to prevent a request packet from being forwarded to a node without said resource necessary to support said virtual path, and determine an alternate physical path, said alternate physical path comprising ones of said nodes with sufficient resources; a fourth set of instructions executable on said computer system to configure said alternate physical path by establishing a communication connection between said ones of said nodes with sufficient resources; and a fifth set of instructions executable on said computer system to restore said virtual path by provisioning said virtual path over said alternate physical path.