Explicit allocation of best-effort packet delivery service

• Published in: IEEE/ACM transactions on networking 1998-08, Vol.6 (4), p.362-373
• Main Authors: Clark, D.D., Wenjia Fang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bandwidth; Channel allocation; Communication system traffic control; IP networks; Protocols; Quality of service; Resource management; Tagging; Traffic control; Web and internet services
• ISSN: 1063-6692; 1558-2566
• DOI: 10.1109/90.720870

This paper presents the "allocated-capacity" framework for providing different levels of best-effort service in times of network congestion. The "allocated-capacity" framework-extensions to the Internet protocols and algorithms-can allocate bandwidth to different users in a controlled and predictable way during network congestion. The framework supports two complementary ways of controlling the bandwidth allocation: sender-based and receiver-based. In today's heterogeneous and commercial Internet the framework can serve as a basis for charging for usage and for more efficiently utilizing the network resources. We focus on algorithms for essential components of the framework: a differential dropping algorithm for network routers and a tagging algorithm for profile meters at the edge of the network for bulk-data transfers. We present simulation results to illustrate the effectiveness of the combined algorithms in controlling transmission control protocol (TCP) traffic to achieve certain targeted sending rates.