Reflections on the TCP macroscopic model
Matthew Mathis · ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review · 2008
The current Internet fairness paradigm mandates that all protocols have equivalent response to packet loss and other congestion signals, allowing relatively simple network devices to attain a weak form of fairness by sending uniform signals to all ows. Our paper[1], which recently received the ACM SIGCOMM Test of Time Award, modeled the reference Additive-Increase-Multiplicative-Decrease algorithm used by TCP. However, in many parts of the Internet ISPs are choosing to explicitly control customer traffic, because the traditional paradigm does not sufficiently enforce fair- ness in a number of increasingly common situations. This editorial note takes the position we should embrace this paradigm shift, which will eventually move the responsibility for capacity allocation from the end-systems to the network itself. This paradigm shift might eventually eliminate the requirement that all protocols be TCP-Friendly".