Best-effort versus reservations: a simple comparative analysis

ABSTRACT

Using a simple analytical model, this paper addresses the following question: Should the Internet retain its best-effort-only architecture, or should it adopt one that is reservation-capable? We characterize the differences between reservation-capable and best-effort-only networks in terms of application performance and total welfare. Our analysis does not yield a definitive answer to the question we pose, since it would necessarily depend on unknowable factors such as the future cost of network bandwidth and the nature of the future traffic load. However, our model does reveal some interesting phenomena. First, in some circumstances, the amount of incremental bandwidth needed to make a best-effort-only network perform as well as a reservation capable one diverges as capacity increases. Second, in some circumstances reservation-capable networks retain significant advantages over best-effort-only networks, no matter how cheap bandwidth becomes. Lastly, we find bounds on the maximum performance advantage a reservation-capable network can achieve over best-effort architectures.

REFERENCES

• 1: Jan Beran, Robert Sherman, Murad S. Taqqu, and Walter Willinger. Long-range dependence in variable-bit-rate video traffic. IEEE Transactions on Communications, 43(2):1566--1579, February 1995.
• 2: R. Braden, Ed., L. Zhang, S. Berson, S. Herzog, (RSVP)- version 1 functional specification. Technical Report RFC 2205, Internet Engineering Task Force, September 1997.
• 3: Lee Breslau and Scott Shenker. Best-effort versus reservations: A simple comparative analysis. Submitted to ACM Transactions on Networking, June 1998.
• 4: David D. Clark , Scott Shenker , Lixia Zhang, Supporting real-time applications in an Integrated Services Packet Network: architecture and mechanism, Conference proceedings on Communications architectures & protocols, p.14-26, August 17-20, 1992, Baltimore, Maryland, United States
• 5: Mark E. Crovella , Azer Bestavros, Self-similarity in World Wide Web traffic: evidence and possible causes, Proceedings of the 1996 ACM SIGMETRICS international conference on Measurement and modeling of computer systems, p.160-169, May 23-26, 1996, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
• 6: Domenico Ferrari , Anindo Banerjea , Hui Zhang, Network support for multimedia: a discussion of the Tenet approach, Computer Networks and ISDN Systems, v.26 n.10, p.1267-1280, July 1994 [doi>10.1016/0169-7552(94)90101-5]
• 7: Sally Floyd. Comments on measurement-based admissions control for controlled-load services. submitted to CCR, July 1996.
• 8: Sugih Jamin , Peter B. Danzig , Scott J. Shenker , Lixia Zhang, A measurement-based admission control algorithm for integrated service packet networks, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking (TON), v.5 n.1, p.56-70, Feb. 1997 [doi>10.1109/90.554722]
• 9: Will E. Leland , Murad S. Taqqu , Walter Willinger , Daniel V. Wilson, On the self-similar nature of Ethernet traffic (extended version), IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking (TON), v.2 n.1, p.1-15, Feb. 1994 [doi>10.1109/90.282603]
• 10: Abhay K. Parekh , Robert G. Gallager, A generalized processor sharing approach to flow control in integrated services networks: the single-node case, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking (TON), v.1 n.3, p.344-357, June 1993 [doi>10.1109/90.234856]
• 11: Vern Paxson , Sally Floyd, Wide-area traffic: the failure of Poisson modeling, Proceedings of the conference on Communications architectures, protocols and applications, p.257-268, August 31-September 02, 1994, London, United Kingdom
• 12: S. Shenker, C. Partridge, and R. Guerin. Specification of guaranteed quMity of service. RFC 2212, Internet Engineering Task Force, September 1997.
• 13: S. Shenker and J. Wroclawski. Network element service specification template. Technical Report RFC 2216, Internet Engineering Task Force, September 1997.
• 14: Scott Shenker. Fundamental design issues for the future internet. IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 13(7), September 1995.
• 15: C. Topolcic. Experimental internet stream protocol, version 2 (ST-II). RFC 1190, SRI Network Information Center, October 1990.
• 16: J. Wroclawski. Specification of the controlled-load network element service. RFC 2211, Internet Engineering Task Force, September 1997.
• 17: J. Wroclawski. The use of RSVP with IETF integrated services. Technical Report RFC 2210, Internet Engineering Task Force, September 1997.
• 18: Lixia Zhang, Steve Deering, Deborah Estrin, Scott Shenker, and Daniel Zappala. RSVP: A new resource reservation protocol. IEEE Network Magazine, 7( 5):8-18, September 1993.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  C. Computer Systems Organization
  C.2 COMPUTER-COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
      C.2.5 Local and Wide-Area Networks
          Subjects: Internet (e.g., TCP/IP)

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

General Terms:
Performance