Abstract: A computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: receive a setup request for an optical path between a source entity of network entities in an optical network and a destination entity of the network entities, identify a first channel and a second channel having one or more contiguous first span with an allocation status of available and being configurable to provide the optical path between the source entity and the destination entity; analyze network configuration data indicative of the first channel and the second channel with a fragmentation heuristic to generate an allocation recommendation recommending the first channel to be allocated to the optical path; and provide the allocation recommendation identifying the first channel for allocation to the optical path.