Redundancy optimization for packet-switched networks

Traditional protocols that are often used for providing redundancy in modern packet-switched networks (Spanning Tree Protocol, Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol, Multiple Spanning Tree Protocol) are very inefficient because they prune links from the network topology in order to achieve a single spanning tree topology. In this paper a method of redundancy optimization for packet-switched networks is presented, based on using non-equal spanning trees of the network graph in order to resolve paths of packets between the switches. The use of non-equal spanning trees enables to get more paths for traffic balancing. Moreover, a proposition is made to connect making of spanning trees with the role of network switch. After that the balancing of network traffic can be optimized by linear programming methods. A practical example of optimization redundancy is shown.