In accordance with the present disclosure, a method of configuring a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) network is presented. The WDM network includes circuits that carry optical signals, with each signal corresponding to a wavelength. The WDM network includes nodes, with links connecting the nodes to one another. Each circuit includes at least one link and at least one node. The method comprises assigning each of the circuits to an optical signal, based on first and second criteria, and configuring the nodes based on the assignment.