Pathwaysrouting

Pathwaysrouting is a family of routing approaches that utilize multiple viable network paths between a source and a destination. Unlike traditional single-path routing, pathwaysrouting seeks to discover and deploy several routes and to distribute traffic across them as appropriate.

Core concepts include path computation, traffic splitting, and path monitoring. Paths may be disjoint or partially overlapping. Traffic can be allocated using equal-cost multipath, weighted load balancing, or per-flow steering, often coordinated by a software-defined network controller or by enhancements to conventional routing protocols.

Common implementations appear in IP networks via ECMP, in MPLS- and SDN-enabled environments where a central controller selects multiple viable routes, and in data center fabrics that leverage many parallel links. In wireless and ad hoc networks, multipath routing helps cope with link variability and topology changes.

Advantages include higher aggregate bandwidth, improved fault tolerance, and faster recovery from link or node failures. Challenges encompass the complexity of path selection, potential packet reordering, state management overhead, and possible routing oscillations if path choices are not stabilized.

Related concepts include multipath routing, traffic engineering, ECMP, segment routing, and route diversity. Pathwaysrouting is discussed in research and is applied in enterprise, data center, and carrier networks to increase resilience and throughput.