Patent ID: 7639609

Claim:
A method comprising: obtaining, at a network analysis system: a model of a network that includes links between nodes of the network, a current configuration of the network that includes a plurality of virtual circuits, one or more constraints related to the virtual circuits, and one or more objectives relative to optimizing the virtual circuits; selectively unrouting a plurality of selected routes associated with one or more of the virtual circuits, the plurality of routes being substantially fewer than a totality of the routes associated with the plurality of virtual circuits; rerouting, by the network analysis system, the plurality of the routes to produce a modified set of virtual circuits; evaluating the modified set based on the one or more objectives, subject to the one or more constraints; repeating the selective unrouting, rerouting, and evaluating to provide a plurality of modified sets of virtual circuits; selecting, by the network analysis system, one or more preferred modified sets for presentation to a user based on an evaluation of each of the plurality of modified sets; and presenting, by the network analysis system, a measure based on the evaluation of each of the preferred modified sets as a function of a number of changes in the set relative to the current configuration of the network.