A Semi-Markov Model for Network Traffic
Huang Xiao · Chinese Journal of Computers · 2005
This paper presents a Semi-Markov Model to characterize network traffic. The model divides network traffic into four states: Busy, idle, rising and falling, through setting busy and (idle) thresholds to network traffic. Analysis show that the average traffic transmission rate under busy state follows geometrical brown motion, that under idle state follows normal distribution, and that under rising or falling states follows exponential distribution respectively. Some practical trace data from WAN and LAN is employed to verify the model separately. 95% trace data really follows its corresponding stochastic distribution in each state. Meanwhile, taking the average network utilization as a parameter example, the theoretical result computed by the model is very consistent with the real statistical result. The relative error is within 5%, which shows how the model is well matched to real network traffic.