Fair Allocation of Substrate Resources among Multiple Overlay Networks

Overlay networks are becoming prevalent in today's networking environment. We consider scenarios where substrate resources are primarily consumed by many overlay networks placed on top of the substrate. We focus on the fair and efficient allocation of substrate link bandwidth among competing overlays. We adapt various existing fairness definitions to this scenario and define a metric to evaluate the fairness of an allocation in a multi-overlay setting. We also examine the effect of routing decisions on resource allocation, and discuss methods to deviate from shortest-path routing in the substrate in order to achieve higher rates and increased fairness for the overlays. We demonstrate that substrate networks can better meet overlay demands when a combination of fair allocation algorithms and intelligent routing decisions is employed.