Cross-Layer Multipath Routing for Live Microservice Migration in Fog Computing Networks

Microservice migration on fog/edge infrastructure is a core operational mechanism to ensure low latency and high availability for time-sensitive applications. However, common single-path deployments are prone to network bottlenecks, which prolong migration time and increase downtime. This paper proposes MPMRP (Multipath Migration Routing Protocol), a cross-layer multipath migration routing protocol that directly targets downtime reduction. MPMRP performs path-level measurements and assesses computational resources at the path 'bottleneck,' normalizes indicators, and scores paths using weights; it then selects the top-K paths and splits pre-copy data in proportion to bandwidth so that all paths complete simultaneously. The accompanying mathematical model establishes the convergence condition λ 1, the stopping rule, and performance measures. Kubernetes/Minikube-based experiments show that MPMRP consistently shortens total migration time by about 61-74% compared with the single-path baselines AODV, EAODV, and the migration-aware routing scheme of Kuzmina et al., and by about 8-10% compared with the multipath transport baseline MPTCP. In terms of downtime, MPMRP achieves reductions of approximately 95-98% relative to AODV, 93-96% relative to EAODV, 94-97% relative to Kuzmina et al., and around 8-11% relative to MPTCP. These results confirm the benefits of cross-layer optimization grounded in path-level measurement and multipath routing, paving the way for seamless service migration in 6G URLLC scenarios, Metaverse/XR, and industrial digital twins.