Patent ID: 8488490

Claim:
A method to plan a network capacity, comprising: receiving a network layer topology comprising a plurality of network layer links; applying weights to the network layer links; selecting a traffic element of a plurality of traffic elements, the selected traffic element comprising endpoint nodes and a traffic demand; determining, using a processor, for at least one of the network layer links, whether the selected traffic element may be routed on a selected network layer link without adding capacity to the selected network layer link; applying penalties to the weights associated with the network layer links that cannot support the selected traffic element without adding capacity; determining, using the processor, based on the weights and penalties of the network layer links, a routing path comprising at least one of the network layer links between the endpoint nodes; adding the selected traffic element to the network layer links on the routing path; and determining, using the processor, the capacity of the network layer links based on the selected traffic element.