IP Network Configuration for Intradomain Traffic Engineering

The smooth operation of the Internet depends on the careful configuration of routers in thousands of autonomous systems throughout the world. Configuring routers is extremely complicated because of the diversity of network equipment, the large number of configuration options, and the interaction of configuration parameters across multiple routers. Network operators have limited tools to aid in configuring large backbone networks. Manual configuration of individual routers can introduce errors and inconsistencies with unforeseen consequences for the operational network. In this paper, the authors describe how to identify configuration mistakes by parsing and analyzing configuration data extracted from the various routers.