A Geometric Approach to Improving Active Packet Loss Measurement

A Geometric Approach to Improving Active

Packet Loss Measurement

Abstract

Measurement and estimation of packet loss characteristics are challenging due to the relatively rare occurrence and typically short duration of packet loss episodes. While active probe tools are commonly used to measure packet loss on end-to-end paths, there has been little analysis of the accuracy of these tools. The objective of our study is to understand how to measure packet loss episodes accurately with end-to-end probes. Studies show that the standard Poisson-modulated end-to-end measurement of packet loss accuracy has to be improved. Thus, we introduce a new algorithm for packet loss measurement that is designed to overcome the deficiencies in standard Poisson-based tools. Specifically, our method entails probe experiments that follow a geometric distribution to enable more accurate measurements than standard Poisson probing and other traditional packet loss measurement tools. We also find the transfer rate. We evaluate the capabilities of our methodology experimentally by developing and implementing a prototype tool, called BADABING. The experiments demonstrate the trade-offs between impact on the network and measurement accuracy. BADABING reports loss characteristics are far more accurately than traditional loss measurement tools.

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Introduction

Measuring and analyzing network traffic dynamics between end hosts has provided the foundation for the development of many different network protocols and systems. Of particular importance is under-standing packet loss behavior since loss can have a significant impact on the performance of both TCP- and UDP-based applications. Despite efforts of network engineers and operators to limit loss, it will probably never be eliminated due to the intrinsic dynamics and scaling properties of traffic in packet switched network. Network operators have the ability to passively monitor nodes within their network for packet loss on routers using SNMP. End-to-end active measurements using probes provide an equally valuable perspective since they indicate the conditions that application traffic is experiencing on those paths.

Our study involves the empirical evaluation of our new loss measurement methodology. To this end, we developed a one-way active measurement tool called BADABING. BADABING sends fixed-size probes at specified intervals from one measurement host to a collaborating target host. The target system collects the probe packets and reports the loss characteristics after a specified period of time. We also compare BADABING with a standard tool for loss measurement that emits probe packets at Poisson intervals. The results show that our tool reports loss episode estimates much more accurately for the same number of probes. We also show that BADABING estimates converge to the underlying loss episode frequency and duration characteristics.

Modules of the Project:

·        Packet Separation

·        Designing the Queue

·        Packet Receiver

·        User Interface Design

·        Packet Loss Calculation

Module Description

Packet Separation:

          In this module we have to separate the input data into packets. These packets are then sent to the Queue.

Designing the Queue:

          The Queue is designed in order to create the packet loss. The queue receives the packets from the Sender, creates the packet loss and then sends the remaining packets to the Receiver.

Packet Receiver:

          The Packet Receiver is used to receive the packets from the Queue after the packet loss. Then the receiver displays the received packets from the Queue.

User Interface Design:

          In this module we design the user interface for Sender, Queue, Receiver and Result displaying window. These windows are designed in order to display all the processes in this project.

Packet Loss Calculation:

          The calculations to find the packet loss are done in this module. Thus we are developing the tool to find the packet loss.

Existing System:

·        In the Existing traditional packet loss measurement tools, the accuracy of the packet loss measurement has to be improved.

·        Several studies include the use of loss measurements to estimate packet loss, such as Poisson modulated tools which can be quite inaccurate.

Proposed System:

·        The purpose of our study is to understand how to measure end-to-end packet loss characteristics accurately.

·        The goal of our study is to understand how to accurately measure loss characteristics on end-to-end paths with probes.

·        Specifically, our method entails probe experiments that follow a geometric distribution to improve the accuracy of the packet loss measurement.

System Requirements

Hardware:

PROCESSOR        :    PENTIUM IV 2.6 GHz

RAM                      :    512 MB

MONITOR            :    15”

HARD DISK         :    20 GB

CDDRIVE             :    52X

KEYBOARD         :   STANDARD 102 KEYS

Software:

FRONT END                 :    JAVA, SWING

TOOLS USED               :    JFRAME BUILDER

OPERATING SYSTEM:    WINDOWS XP

Conclusion:

          Thus, our project implements a tool named BADABING to find the packet loss accurately by measuring an end-to-end packet loss characteristics such as transfer rate for a packet per second and the probability of the packets being lost in a network, within a set of active probes. Specifically, our method entails probe experiments that follow a geometric distribution to enable more accurate measurements than standard Poisson probing and other traditional packet loss measurement tools. 

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