A Method of IP Traffic Management Using the Relationship between TCP Flow Behavior and Link Utilization

Ryoichi KAWAHARA  Keisuke ISHIBASHI  Takuya ASAKA  Katsunori ORI  

Publication
IEICE TRANSACTIONS on Communications   Vol.E86-B   No.11   pp.3244-3256
Publication Date: 2003/11/01
Online ISSN: 
DOI: 
Print ISSN: 0916-8516
Type of Manuscript: PAPER
Category: Network Management/Operation
Keyword: 
TCP performance,  IP,  traffic management,  number of active flows,  

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Summary: 
We propose a method of IP traffic management where the TCP performance at a bottleneck link is estimated from monitored data about the behavior of the number of active flows versus link utilization, which are both easy to measure. This method is based on our findings that (i) TCP performance remains constant as long as the link utilization is below some threshold value, but becomes degraded when it exceeds this value and (ii) the number of active flows increases linearly with link utilization up to the same value, and the increase becomes nonlinear above it. Though this threshold may vary depending on traffic/network conditions, our method requires neither predetermination of a threshold on the basis of assumed traffic conditions nor direct measurement of TCP performance.