Roger Bohn
University of California, San Diego
La Jolla, CA 92093-0519
Hans-Werner Braun
k claffy
NLANR
Stephen Wolff
National Science Foundation, DNCRI
Washington, D.C.
This situation creates a time window where
applications exist on a network not designed for them, but before an
appropriately architected network can augment the current
infrastructure and cope with the new type of workload.
We propose a scheme for voluntarily setting Internet
traffic priorities by end-users and applications, using the existing
3-bit Precedence field in the Internet Protocol header.
Our proposal has three elements. First, network routers would queue
incoming packets by IP Precedence value instead of the
customary single-threaded FIFO. Second, users and their
applications would voluntarily use different and appropriate precedence
values in their outgoing transmissions according to some defined
criteria. Third, network service providers may monitor the precedence
levels of traffic entering their network, and use some mechanism
such as a quota system to discourage users from setting high precedence
values on all their traffic. All three elements can be implemented
gradually and selectively across the Internet infrastructure, providing a
smooth transition path from the present system. The experience we gain
from an implementation will furthermore provide a valuable knowledge
base from which to develop sound accounting and billing mechanisms and
policies in the future.
Abstract:
The current architecture and implementation of the Internet assumes a
vast aggregation of traffic from many sources and
stochastic distribution of traffic both in space (traffic source) and
time (burstiness of traffic volume). Given this general assumption,
Internet components typically have little if any ability to control the
volume and distribution of incoming traffic. As a result the network,
particularly from the perspective of the router, is vulnerable to
significant
consumption of networking resources by high-volume applications, with
possibly little stochastic behavior, from a few users. This often
impacts the overall profile of network traffic as aggregated from
many clients. An example is the continuous flows introduced by real
time applications such as packet audio, video, or rapidly changing
graphics.