It is observed that the impact of network failures is more pronounced in high speed networks. To maintain optimal network performance parameters, it is essential to deal with network routing in an efficient manner. To maintain network survivability after occurrence of failures, the routing technique implemented for high speed network should work for failure-prone networks. In this paper, a comprehensive survey of existing routing techniques in optical networks, such as Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing, Destination Sequenced Distance Vector (DSDV) routing protocol, Dynamic Source Routing (DSR), Zone Routing Protocols (ZRP), Temporally Ordered Routing Algorithm (TORA), and Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing (GPRS) protocol, has been presented. Each routing technique has its limitations and advantages. Implementation of a particular technique in a network is dependent on the size of the network, geographical area and network performance desired. Network performance is measured through various parameters such as Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR), link throughput, link bandwidth, delay, throughput, etc.

All-optical networks have been considered as the most reliable and cost-effective solution to obtain high transmission rates for long-haul distances with a low relative cost. In these networks, the signal remains in the optical domain between the edge nodes without optical-electrical-optical conversion. One of the major challenges in all-optical networks is to ensure the quality of transmission of the signal from the source to the destination node (de Freitas et al., 2012). The ability of a network to continue functioning even after the occurrence of any failure is very much required in optical networks. As optical networks are capable of transmitting a large amount of data at very high speed, any failure or breakdown even for small duration can cause significant data and revenue loss. So, the survivability of optical networks has become a very important issue for research. The wired computer networks provide a secure and faster means of connectivity, but the need for mobility, i.e., anywhere, anytime and anyone access, is tilting the network users towards wireless technology. The network simulators provide ease in predicting and estimating the performance of networks. Among the various network simulators available, Network Simulator 2 (NS2) gains an edge in analyzing the performance of the networks through simulations. The metrics like throughput, delay and retransmission attempts, etc. have been overviewed for performance analysis of the wireless and wired computer networks using soft computing techniques like simulation through NS2 (Bansal et al., 2010).

Telecommunications Journal, Ad hoc On-Demand Distance Vector (AODV) routing, Destination Sequenced Distance Vector (DSDV) routing protocol, Dynamic Source Routing (DSR), Zone Routing Protocols (ZRP), Temporally Ordered Routing Algorithm (TORA), and Greedy Perimeter Stateless Routing (GPRS), Network, Routing, Delay, Throughput, Bandwidth.