Rigorous evaluation of performance and policy impacts of transport protocols and in-network devices
Arash Molavi Kakhki · 2017
The popularity of resource-hungry applications is at record high and is increasing, creating a data consumption boom that is growing at a rapid rate. As a result, resource-constrained networks need to keep up with this demand for data and bandwidth, while guaranteeing accessibility, reliability, and speed to maintain a satisfactory level of end-to-end performance for all users and applications. To achieve this goal, much effort has been put into optimizing for network performance, including optimizing Web applications to adapt to network conditions, designing new transport protocols that better fit modern applications requirements, and applying in-network management techniques by network operators for better handling of traffic loads. However, many of aforementioned solutions do not go through sufficient evaluation, resulting in poor understanding of their implications or how well they interact with other optimization efforts. This can cause gaps between intended and actual performance of applications across a range of environments. Moreover, some of these approaches disrupt the Internets openness and neutrality. Further frustrating such scenarios is the lack of visibility into networks, making it very difficult (or impossible) to pinpoint the root causes of poor performance or detect open Internet violations.