Traffic Management for Aggregate IP Streams
Alan Chapman · 1999
The IP networking industry is defining ways to differentiate service levels and provide contracted quality of service. Much of the work, such as multi-protocol label switching, is moving toward traffic engineering models for aggregate streams that closely parallel those of ATM networks. A general architecture, similar to that used for ATM connections, is suggested for the traffic management of IP aggregates. ATM networks use resource management cells for control. These cells are injected, monitored and removed by the network. They do not intrude on the user traffic and do not have to be aware of the user data protocols. Such a control overlay, which is absent from TCP/IP, is well-suited for a future IP network. The control overlay has particular value for the management of controlled network bandwidth sharing between aggregate IP streams. Issues with TCP, the primary traffic sharing mechanism in today's network, are discussed. An approach that uses TCP's congestion control to ma...