An optical transport network comprises a number of nodes, or routers, which are coupled together via optical fibers. When a physical link comes up between a node and a neighboring node, a handshake between the node and the neighboring node recognizes the link such that the node, and the neighboring node, include it in respective link assignment tables. In addition, the node and the neighboring node negotiate a predefined sequence for assigning link resources from their respective assignment tables for satisfying future connection requests.