Distributed Fast Loop-Free Transition of Routing Protocols

In networks that operate during a long time, the routing protocol might have to be changed: this is the case when the network administrator plans a router change. Loop-free transition algorithms are used to ensure that there is no loop during the migration from the initial routing protocol to the final routing protocol. In this paper, we propose a distributed loop-free transition algorithm, called DLF (distributed loop-free heuristic). The algorithm is based on the fact that routing loops resulting from the removal of a node are localized, and can be detected efficiently. We show through simulations that DLF compares well with the existing centralized algorithms, and outperforms the existing distributed algorithm, in terms of migration duration.