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Available Bandwidth Measurement. and the Obstacles to Overcome Accurate Measurement. Definitions. Available Bandwidth (AB): The rate a which packets can be sent through the network. AB is limited by two factors: Bottleneck : The minimum rate we can send packets (static)
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Available Bandwidth Measurement and the Obstacles to Overcome Accurate Measurement
Definitions • Available Bandwidth (AB): The rate a which packets can be sent through the network. AB is limited by two factors: • Bottleneck: The minimum rate we can send packets (static) • Congestion: The amount of competing traffic (dynamic) • Throughput: Amount of data actually received
Common Tools for Measuring AB • Pathchar: Estimates physical bandwidth of hop-to-hop links • Pathload: Estimates AB • Netest: Measures end-to-end achievable throughput and AB, also analyzes cross traffic • bprobe/cprobe/tccp: Measure achievable throughput • Ping: First & simplest, measures round trip time
AB Measurement Difficulties • Packet dispersions techniques can be intrusive to a system • Traffic congestion in the network can cause packets to be lost and false measurements • Network bandwidth has become faster than system I/O
More Complex Limitations • System Interrupts • System interrupt flooding • Interrupt coalescence • System Time Resolution • Packets come in faster that the system can time stamp them • System Calls • Overhead time required to do them
Measurement Algorithms & Limitations • Variable Packet Size (VPS) • Use size and hop differential methods to estimate physical bandwidth • Accuracy limited by cross traffic • Packet Pair Dispersion (PPD) • Separation between packets remains after bottleneck • Accuracy limited by cross traffic, no interrupt coalescing • Packet Train • Can determine amount of cross traffic • Measures hop-by-hop link capacity beyond bottleneck (each routers bandwidth)
Future Issue • Network speeds are growing faster than CPU clock speeds and memory speeds • Host will become the bottleneck