High-Speed TCP Testing
David E. Brooks, Holly Gassman, Dave R. Beering, Arun Welch, Douglas J. Hoder, William D. Ivancic · 1999
this report for identification only. This usage does not constitute an official endorsement, either expressed or implied, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. HIGH-SPEED TRANSMISSION CONTROL PROTOCOL (TCP) TESTING Sterling Software Cleveland, Ohio Holly Gassman Case Western Reserve University Cleveland, Ohio Dave R. Beering Infinite Global Infrastructures, LLC Chicago, Illinois Arun Welch Anzus Consulting Orleans, Massachusetts Douglas J. Hoder and William D. Ivancic National Aeronautics and Space Administration Glenn Research Center Cleveland, Ohio SUMMARY Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is the underlying protocol used within the Internet for reliable information transfer. As such, there is great interest to have all implementations of TCP efficiently interoperate. This is particularly important for links exhibiting long bandwidth-delay products. The tools exist to perform TCP analysis at low rates and low delays. However, for extremely high-rate and long-delay links such as 622 Mbps over geosynchronous satellites, new tools and testing techniques are required. This paper describes the tools and techniques used to analyze and debug various TCP implementations over high-speed, long-delay links. BACKGROUND The Space Program Office and the Communication Technology Division of the NASA Glenn Research Center have been working with the United States satellite communication industry over the past 15 years to develop advanced technologies and networking techniques to improve commercial satellite communications. In general, these technologies and networking techniques can be directly applied to NASA operations and NASA missions. The Advanced Communication Technology Satellite (ACTS) and associated experiments are a primary example of this technology develo...