Fast ReRoute error detection – Implementation of BFD mechanism

When a routing protocol detects a link or node failure, a network convergence process starts in the network. This process may take from a few hundred ms to tens of seconds. During this process, the data affected by specific failure is permanently lost. For these reasons, Fast ReRoute (FRR) has been developed. FRR is a technology, that minimizes network repair time after a link or node failure, mainly in the ISP networks. The FRR mechanisms calculate alternative backup path before the failure in the network may occur. The key factor of network recovery time after link or node failure is failure detection. One of common fast failure detection technique used in the FRR area is Bidirectional Forwarding Detection (BFD) mechanism. In this paper we present a new implementation of fast failure detection mechanism BFD in discrete event simulator OMNeT++. We describe implementation of individual modules in simulator, testing topology and testing scenarios for proper validation.