Abstract: In a packet switching network, a distributed architecture provides efficient computation of routes in Quality of Service (QoS)-based routing scenarios. Using a client-server model, only designated route servers store and maintain a database containing the entire network topology, so that each network node is not required to store and maintain the network topology. Client nodes maintain a cache containing pre-computed routes so that they can often make routing decisions autonomously. A client contacts a designated route server only when the client cannot obtain from its local cache a route to a given destination that meets the performance requirements. A client cache may contain pre-computed routes with designated QoS profiles to all destinations or to a subset of destinations. Route servers may also contain caches, which may contain pre-computed routes to all destinations in the network with all QoS profiles, or may contain only a subset of such routes.