<i>MTS‐PolKA</i>: Weighted Multipath Traffic Splitting With Source Routing for Elephant and Mice Flows

ABSTRACT Modern datacenter networks rely on multi‐root tree topologies, to ensure efficient and reliable connectivity. However, traditional traffic engineering solutions like equal cost multiple path (ECMP) and weighted‐cost multipath (WCMP) often fall short in addressing dynamic and heterogeneous traffic conditions. Specifically, these approaches struggle with asymmetric topologies and the allocation of elephant flows, which require more granular and agile traffic management. This paper introduces MTS‐PolKA ( Multipath Traffic Split Polynomial Key‐based Architecture ), a novel traffic splitting mechanism designed to enhance traffic engineering in datacenter networks. MTS‐PolKA enables packet‐level traffic distribution across multiple paths by embedding a source routing label in the packet header that dictates the per‐flow traffic division profile. Unlike existing methods that require reconfiguring network tables at each switch, MTS‐PolKA enables dynamic adjustments across all switches in the path through simple packet header modifications, significantly enhancing the agility and efficiency of traffic management. The implementation of MTS‐PolKA on programmable switches using the P4 language, along with the residue number system (RNS) and M‐PolKA architecture, showcases its potential through experiments conducted in the Mininet emulator. The results highlight the ability of MTS‐PolKA to maintain flow stability, explore network multipaths, and enable rapid reconfigurations of traffic division profiles, enhancing the performance and efficiency of modern datacenter networks.