On How to Provision Quality of Service (QoS) for Large Dataset Transfers
Zhenzhen Yan, Malathi Veeraraghavan, Chris Tracy, Chin P. Guok · 2013
Abstract—There is recent interest in using traffic-engineered, QoS-controlled paths for large-sized, high-rate dataset transfers in the scientific community. We refer to TCP flows created by such transfers as α flows. Research-and-education network providers are interested in intra-domain traffic engineering systems for identifying α flows at ingress routers within their networks, and redirecting them to traffic-engineered paths. This is primarily because of the adverse effects these α flows have on delay-sensitive multimedia flows. The focus of this work is to determine what QoS mechanisms are suitable to achieve the dual goals of preventing α flows from adversely affecting delaysensitive flows, while simultaneously allowing them to enjoy high throughput. The interaction between policing schemes on the ingress interfaces and scheduling schemes on the egress interfaces was studied through a set of experiments on a high-speed router testbed. Our conclusions are that a scheduling-only mechanism, with no policing, is well suited to achieve these dual goals if the level of fairness offered by today’s IP-routed service is sufficient for simultaneous α flows. Keywords—policing; scheduling; high-speed networks; trafficengineering; virtual-circuit networks I.