Presented herein are techniques to manage a data network. A method includes receiving, at a first network device, a request to establish a path through a network from the first network device to a second network device, in response to the request, determining, from among a plurality of potential paths between the first network device and the second network device, a longest acceptable path between the first network device and the second network device, and sending data from the first network device to the second network device via the longest acceptable path between the first network device and the second network device. Because the longest acceptable path is first selected by default, if and when that longest acceptable path fails, a failover path will likely be shorter than the longest acceptable path thus likely improving, e.g., overall latency for the data being sent.