# Kulfi: Robust Traffic Engineering Using Semi-Oblivious Routing

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.01203 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.01203/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 3 Mar 2016.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Safe Load Balancing in Software-Defined-Networking](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2410.16846/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Wide-area network traffic engineering enables network operators to reduce congestion and improve utilization by balancing load across multiple paths. Current approaches to traffic engineering can be modeled in terms of a routing component that computes forwarding paths, and a load balancing component that maps incoming flows onto those paths dynamically, adjusting sending rates to fit current conditions. Unfortunately, existing systems rely on simple strategies for one or both of these components, which leads to poor performance or requires making frequent updates to forwarding paths, significantly increasing management complexity. This paper explores a different approach based on semi-oblivious routing, a natural extension of oblivious routing in which the system computes a diverse set of paths independent of demands, but also dynamically adapts sending rates as conditions change. Semi-oblivious routing has a number of important advantages over competing approaches including low overhead, nearly optimal performance, and built-in protection against unexpected bursts of traffic and failures. Through in-depth simulations and a deployment on SDN hardware, we show that these benefits are robust, and hold across a wide range of topologies, demands, resource budgets, and failure scenarios.