Modeling data throughput on communication networks
Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States), John Eldridge, USDOE, Washington, DC (United States) · 1993
New challenges in high performance computing and communications are driving the need for fast, geographically distributed networks. Applications such as modeling physical phenomena, interactive visualization, large data set transfers, and distributed supercomputing require high performance networking [St89][Ra92][Ca92]. One measure of a communication network`s performance is the time it takes to complete a task -- such as transferring a data file or displaying a graphics image on a remote monitor. Throughput, defined as the ratio of the number of useful data bits transmitted per the time required to transmit those bits, is a useful gauge of how well a communication system meets this performance measure. This paper develops and describes an analytical model of throughput. The model is a tool network designers can use to predict network throughput. It also provides insight into those parts of the network that act as a performance bottleneck.