A method for establishing a communications path between a source node and
destination node. The method includes defining a first group of network
elements (NEs) suitable for use in the communications path,
contemporaneously determining available resources within each of the NEs
of the first group of NEs, and contemporaneously reserving those
available resources appropriate to establish the communications path. The
reserved resources sufficient to establish the communications path are
selected, while those reserved resources not selected are released. In
the absence of available resources sufficient to establish the
communications path, the method is repeated using a second group of NEs
suitable for establishing the communications path.