Congestion Control in Data Networks and Internets

1 Unit 2 Congestion Control in Data Networks and Internets

Introduction
Congestion occurs when number of packets transmitted approaches network capacity  Objective of congestion control:


keep number of packets below level at which performance drops off dramatically

2 Unit 2 Congestion Control in Data Networks and Internets

Queuing Theory
Data network is a network of queues  If arrival rate > transmission rate then queue size grows without bound and packet delay goes to infinity


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At Saturation Point, 2 Strategies

Discard any incoming packet if no buffer available  Saturated node exercises flow control over neighbors


May cause congestion to propagate throughout network

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Ideal Performance
I.e., infinite buffers, no overhead for packet transmission or congestion control  Throughput increases with offered load until full capacity  Packet delay increases with offered load approaching infinity at full capacity  Power = throughput / delay  Higher throughput results in higher delay

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Figure 10.3

8 Unit 2 Congestion Control in Data Networks and Internets

Practical Performance
I.e., finite buffers, non-zero packet processing overhead  With no congestion control, increased load eventually causes moderate congestion: throughput increases at slower rate than load  Further increased load causes packet delays to increase and eventually throughput to drop to zero

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Under N/W congestion

Transmission delay for an single packet from source to the destination increases so it leads to longer delay  The packets may be discarded


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Congestion control
Open loop congestion (Prevention) Re transmission policy Window policy Ack policy Discard policy Admission policy Closed loop congestion (Removal) Back pressure Choke packet Implicit signaling Explicit signaling

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Congestion Control
 

Backpressure: Request from destination to source to reduce rate Choke packet: ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) Source Quench.
It is a control packet generated at the congested node and sent to the source node to restrict the sending rate

Implicit congestion signaling

Source detects congestion from transmission delays and discarded packets and reduces flow Effective in connection less n/ws
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Explicit congestion signaling

Operates in connection oriented n/ws  Direction


Backward Forward


Categories
Binary Credit-based rate-based
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Unit 2 Congestion Control in Data Networks and Internets

Traffic Management
 

Fairness
Last-in-first-discarded may not be fair

Quality of Service
Voice, video: delay sensitive, loss insensitive File transfer, mail: delay insensitive, loss sensitive Interactive computing: delay and loss sensitive

Reservations
Policing: excess traffic discarded or handled on besteffort basis
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Unit 2 Congestion Control in Data Networks and Internets

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Frame Relay Congestion Control

         

Minimize frame size Maintain QoS Minimize monopolization of network Simple to implement, little overhead Minimal additional network traffic Resources distributed fairly Limit spread of congestion Operate effectively regardless of flow Have minimum impact other systems in network Minimize variance in QoS
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Unit 2 Congestion Control in Data Networks and Internets

Table 10.1

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Traffic Rate Management

   

Committed Information Rate (CIR)

Rate that network agrees to support

Aggregate of CIRs < capacity

For node and user-network interface (access)

Committed Burst Size

Maximum data over one interval agreed to by network

Excess Burst Size

Maximum data over one interval that network will attempt
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Unit 2 Congestion Control in Data Networks and Internets

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Figure 10.7

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Congestion Avoidance with Explicit Signaling

2 strategies  Congestion always occurred slowly, almost always at egress nodes
forward explicit congestion avoidance


Congestion grew very quickly in internal nodes and required quick action
backward explicit congestion avoidance

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2 Bits for Explicit Signaling



Forward Explicit Congestion Notification

For traffic in same direction as received frame This frame has encountered congestion

Backward Explicit Congestion Notification

For traffic in opposite direction of received frame Frames transmitted may encounter congestion
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Unit 2 Congestion Control in Data Networks and Internets