Modeling and analysis of the Unix communication subsystems

ABSTRACT

The performance of host communication subsystems is an important research topic in computer networks. Performance metrics such as throughput, delay, and packet loss are important indices to observe the system behavior. Most research in this area is conducted by experimental measurement; far less attention is paid to the analytic modeling approach. The well-known complexity and dynamic nature of the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) make the performance modeling of communication subsystems extremely difficult. The purpose of this study is to analyze and model the overhead in Unix communication subsystems. The overhead is caused by protocol processing as well as kernel functions for fair allocation of system resources. Our approach is to build analytic models of communication overhead for sending and receiving a message. The analytic models can be applied to analyze the communication overhead for Internet information systems, such as the Internet web servers, or software servers built above midwares, such as the Distributed Computing Environment/Remote Procedure Call (DCE/RPC) servers, that require intensive network I/O.

REFERENCES

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  D. Software
  D.4 OPERATING SYSTEMS
      D.4.8 Performance
          Subjects: Modeling and prediction

Additional Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.2 Network Protocols

          Nouns: TCP/IP

  D. Software
  D.4 OPERATING SYSTEMS
      D.4.0 General

          Nouns: UNIX
      D.4.4 Communications Management
          Subjects: Network communication; Message sending

General Terms:
Algorithms, Design, Experimentation, Measurement, Performance, Theory