An extensible probe architecture for network protocol performance measurement

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the architecture and implementation of Windmill, a passive network protocol performance measurement tool. Windmill enables experimenters to measure a broad range of protocol performance metrics by both reconstructing application-level network protocols and exposing the underlying protocol layers' events. Windmill is split into three functional components: a dynamically compiled Windmill Protocol Filter (WPF), a set of abstract protocol modules, and an extensible experiment engine. To demonstrate Windmill's utility, the results from several experiments are presented. The first set of experiments suggests a possible cause for the correlation between Internet routing instability and network utilization. The second set of experiments highlights: Windmill's ability to act as a driver for a complementary active Internet measurement apparatus, its ability to perform online data reduction, and the non-intrusive measurement of a closed system.

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INDEX TERMS

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

Additional Classification:
  D. Software
  D.2 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

General Terms:
Performance

Keywords:
online analysis, packet filter, passive measurement, protocol performance