Large-Scale Available Bandwidth Measurements: Interference in Current Techniques
The end-to-end available bandwidth of an Internet path is a desirable information that can be exploited to optimize system performance. Several tools have been proposed in the past to estimate it. However, existing measurement techniques were not designed for large-scale deployments. In this paper we show that current tools do not properly work where multiple probing processes share a portion of a path. We provide experimental evidence to quantify the impact of mutual interference between measurements. We further analyze the characteristics of popular tools, quantifying (i) the impact of mutual interference, (ii) the total overhead imposed to the network and (iii) the intrusiveness of the m…
The quest for bandwidth estimation techniques for large-scale distributed systems
In recent years the research community has developed many techniques to estimate the end-to-end available bandwidth of an Internet path. This important metric can be potentially exploited to optimize the performance of several distributed systems and, even, to improve the effectiveness of the congestion control mechanism of TCP. Thus, it has been suggested that some existing estimation techniques could be used for this purpose. However, existing tools were not designed for large-scale deployments and were mostly validated in controlled settings, considering only one measurement running at a time. In this paper, we argue that current tools, while offering good estimates when used alone, migh…