2424-1 DATA TRAFFIC

The main focus of congestion control and quality of service is data traffic. In congestion control we try to traffic. avoid traffic congestion. In quality of service, we try to congestion. create an appropriate environment for th t ffi . S t i t i t f the traffic So, traffic. before talking about congestion control and quality of service, service we discuss the data traffic itself. itself. Topics discussed in this section:
Traffic Descriptor Traffic Profiles
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Chapter 24 Congestion Control and Quality of Service

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Figure 24.1 T ffi descriptors 24 1 Traffic d i t

Figure 24.2 Th traffic profiles 24 2 Three t ffi fil

Effective bandwidth: the bandwidth that the network needs to allocate for the flow of traffic 24.3 24.4

2424-2 CONGESTION
Congestion in a network may occur if the load on the g y f network networkthe number of packets sent to the network network is greater than the capacity of the networkthe network number of packets a network can handle. Congestion handle. control refers to the mechanisms and techniques to control the congestion and keep the load below the capacity. capacity. Topics discussed in this section:
Network Performance
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Figure 24.3 Q 24 3 Queues i a router in t

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Figure P k t delay and throughput as functions of load Packet d l d th h t f ti fl d

2424-3 CONGESTION CONTROL

Congestion control refers techniques and mechanisms that can either prevent congestion, b f th t ith t ti before it h happens, or remove congestion, after it has happened. In happened. general, general we can divide congestion control mechanisms into two broad categories: open-loop congestion categories: opencontrol (prevention) and closed-loop congestion (p ) closed- p g control (removal). (removal). Topics discussed in this section:

Throughput: number of packets passing through the network in a unit of time.

Open-Loop Congestion Control Closed-Loop Closed Loop Congestion Control

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Effects of Congestion g

Figure 24.5 C 24 5 Congestion control categories ti t l t i

(not

Packets arriving are stored at input buffers

ATM)

Routing decision made Packet moves to output buffer p Packets queued for output transmitted as fast as possible

Statistical time division multiplexing

If packets arrive too fast to be routed, or to be output, output buffers will fill Can discard packets Can use flow control

Can propagate congestion through network

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Congestion Control Objectives

In general, we want to: Minimize discards Maintain agreed QoS (if applicable) Minimize probability of one end user monopoly over other end users th d Simple to implement

Basic Mechanisms for Congestion Control

Open-Loop Open Loop Congestion Control (rely on other layers for feedback and control) Retransmission policy - a good policy can reduce congestion Window policy - sel-reject better than go-back-N; use a bigger sel reject go back N; window size Acknowledgment policy - dont ack each packet individually Discard policy - a good policy by routers may p p y g p y y y prevent congestion and at the same time may not harm the integrity of the transmission Admission policy - QOS mechanism

Little overhead on network or user

Create minimal additional traffic Distribute resources fairly Limit Li it spread of congestion d f ti Operate effectively regardless of traffic flow Minimum impact on other systems Minimize variance in QoS

Basic Mechanisms for Congestion Control

Closed-Loop Closed Loop Congestion Control Backpressure - when a router is congested, it informs the previous upstream router to reduce the rate of outgoing packets Choke packet of choke point - sent by router to source, similar to ICMPs source quench packet Implicit signaling - look for delay in some other action p g g y Explicit signaling - router sends an explicit signal Backward signaling - bit is set in packet moving in the direction opposite to the congestion Forward signaling - bit is set in packet moving in the direction of congestion. Receiver can use policy such as slowing down acks to alleviate congestion

Figure 24.6 B k 24 6 Backpressure method for alleviating congestion th d f ll i ti ti

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Figure 24.7 Ch k packet 24 7 Choke k t

Basic Mechanisms for Congestion Control (visual examples)

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Backpressure p

Choke Packet

If node becomes congested it can slow down or halt flow of packets from other nodes May mean that other nodes have to apply control on incoming packet rates Propagates back to source Can restrict to logical connections generating g g g most traffic Used in connection oriented that allow hop by hop h congestion control (e.g. X.25) ti t l( X 25) Not used in ATM or frame relay Only O l recently developed for IPv6 (PRI field) tl d l d f IP 6 fi ld)

Control packet

Generated at congested node Sent to source node e.g. ICMP source quench

From router or destination Source cuts back until no more source quench g message Sent for every discarded packet, or anticipated

Rather crude mechanism

Implicit Congestion Signaling p g g g

Explicit Congestion Signaling p g g g

Transmission delay may increase with congestion Packets may be discarded Source can detect these as implicit indications of congestion (source is responsible, not network) g ( p , ) Useful on connectionless (datagram) networks

Network alerts end systems of increasing congestion ti Used on connection-oriented networks End systems take steps to reduce offered load Backwards

e.g. IP based (TCP includes congestion and flow g ( g control)

Congestion avoidance info sent in opposite direction of packet travel Congestion avoidance info sent in same direction as p packet travel - when end system receives info, either y , sends it back to source or hands it to higher layer to take action

Forwards

Used in frame relay LAPF

Congestion control in TCP

To better understand the concept of congestion p f g control, we will consider congestion control in TCP. TCP. Slow start Congestion avoidance C Congestion d t ti ti detection

Figure 24.8 Sl start, exponential increase 24 8 Slow t t ti l i

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Figure 24.9 C 24 9 Congestion avoidance, additive increase ti id dditi i

Note

In the slow-start algorithm, the size of the congestion window increases exponentially until it reaches a threshold.

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Note

Note

In the congestion avoidance algorithm, the size of the congestion window increases additively until congestion is detected.

An implementation reacts to congestion detection in one of the following ways: If detection is by time-out, a new slow start phase starts starts. If detection is by three ACKs, a new congestion avoidance phase starts starts.

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Figure 24.10 TCP congestion policy summary 24 10 ti li

Figure 24.11 C 24 11 Congestion example M ti l Max-w =32 32

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2424-5 QUALITY OF SERVICE

Quality of service (QoS) is an internetworking issue that has been discussed more than defined. We can defined. informally define quality of service as something a flow seeks to attain. attain.

Figure 24.15 Fl characteristics 24 15 Flow h t i ti

Topics discussed in this section:

Flow Characteristics Flow Classes

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