Unit Test 2:CS9213-COMPUTER NETWORKS AND MANAGEMENT

1. Define window management techniques used in TCP for congestion control.

Window Management

 Slow start

 Dynamic window sizing on congestion

 Fast retransmit

 Fast recovery

 Limited transmit
Slow Start
awnd=MIN [credit, cwnd)
where
awnd = allowed window in segments
cwnd = congestion window in segments (assumes MSS bytes per segment)
credit = amount of unused credit granted in most recent ack (rcvwindow)
cwnd = 1 for a new connection and increased by 1 (except during slow start) for each ack
received, up to a maximum.
Effect of TCP Slow Start
Dynamic Window Sizing on Congestion

 A lost segment indicates congestion

 Prudent (conservative) to reset cwnd to 1 and begin slow start process

 May not be conservative enough: “easy to drive a network into saturation but hard for
the net to recover” (Jacobson)

 Instead, use slow start with linear growth in cwnd after reaching a threshold value
Illustration of Slow Start and Congestion Avoidance
Fast Retransmit

 RTO is generally noticeably longer than actual RTT

 If a segment is lost, TCP may be slow to retransmit
 TCP rule: if a segment is received out of order, an ack must be issued immediately for the
last in-order segment
 Tahoe/Reno Fast Retransmit rule: if 4 acks received for same segment (I.e. 3 duplicate
acks), highly likely it was lost, so retransmit immediately, rather than waiting for timeout.
Fast Recovery
 When TCP retransmits a segment using Fast Retransmit, a segment was assumed lost
 Congestion avoidance measures are appropriate at this point
 E.g., slow-start/congestion avoidance procedure
 This may be unnecessarily conservative since multiple ACKs indicate segments are
actually getting through
 Fast Recovery: retransmit lost segment, cut threshold in half, set congestion window to
threshold +3, proceed with linear increase of cwnd
 This avoids initial slow-start
Limited Transmit
 If congestion window at sender is small, fast retransmit may not get triggered, e.g., cwnd
=3
 Under what circumstances does sender have small congestion window?
 Is the problem common?
 If the problem is common, why not reduce number of duplicate acks needed to trigger
retransmit.
Limited Transmit Algorithm
Sender can transmit new segment when 3 conditions are met:
 Two consecutive duplicate acks are received
 Destination advertised window allows transmission of segment
  Amount of outstanding data after sending is less than or equal to cwnd + 2
2. Explain congestion control mechanisms for packet-switching networks.
 Send a control packet from a congested node to some or all source nodes. This choke
packet will have the effect of stopping or slowing the rate of transmission from sources
and hence limit the total no of packets in the network. This approach requires additional
traffic on the network during a period of congestion.
 Rely on routing information. Routing algorithms provide link delay information to other
nodes, which influences routing decisions. This information could also be used to
influence the rate at which new packets are produced. Because these delays are being
influenced by the routing decision, they may vary too rapidly to be used effectively for
congestion control.
 Make use of an end-to-end probe packet. Such a packet could be timestamped to measure
the delay between two particular end points. This has the disadvantage of adding
overhead to the network.
 Allow packet switching nodes to add congestion information to packets as they go by.
There are two possible approaches here. A node could add such information to packets
going in the direction opposite to the congestion. This information quickly reaches the
source node, which can reduce the flow of packets into the network. Alternatively, a node
could add such information to packets going in the same direction as the congestion. The
destination either asks the source to adjust the load or returns the signal back to the
source in the packets (or acknowledgments) going in the reverse direction.

3. Explain ABR & GTR Traffic Management

ABR Traffic Management
 CBR, rt-VBR, nrt-VBR: traffic contract with open-loop control
 UBR: best effort sharing of unused capacity
 ABR: share unused (available) capacity using closed-loop control of source
– Allowed Cell Rate (ACR): current max. cell transmission rate
– Minimum Cell Rate (MCR): network guaranteed minimum cell rate
– Peak Cell Rate (PCR): max. value for ACR
– Initial Cell Rate (ICR): initial value of ACR
 ACR is dynamically adjusted based on feedback to the source in the form of Resource
Management (RM) cells
 RM cells contain three fields:
– Congestion Indication (CI) bit
– No Increase (NI) bit
– Explicit Cell Rate (ER) field
Flow of Data and RM Cells – ABR Connection
ABR Source Reaction Rules

Variations in Allowed Cell Rate

ABR Capacity Allocation

 Two Functions of ATM Switches
 – Congestion Control: throttle back on rates based on buffer dynamics
– Fairness: throttle back as required to ensure fair allocation of available capacity
between connections
 Two categories of switch algorithms
– Binary: EFCI, CI and NI bits
– Explicit rate: use of the ER field
Binary Feedback Schemes
 Single FIFO queue at each output port buffer
– switch issues EFCI, CI, NI based on threshold(s) in each queue
 Multiple queues per port - separate queue for each VC, or group of VCs
– uses threshold levels as above
 Use selective feedback to dynamically allocate fair share of capacity
– switch will mark cells that exceed their fair share of buffer capacity
Explicit Rate Feedback Schemes
 Basic scheme at switch is:
1. compute fair share of capacity for each VC
2. determine the current load or degree of congestion
3. compute an explicit rate (ER) for each VC and send to the source in an
RM cell
 Several example of this scheme
– Enhanced proportional rate control algorithm (EPRCA)
– Explicit rate indication for congestion avoidance (ERICA)
Congestion Avoidance using proportional control (CAPC)
EPRCA
 Switch calculates mean current load on each connection, called the MACR:
MACR(I) = (1-α ) x MACR(I-1) + α x CCR(I)
Note: typical value for α is 1/16
 When queue length at an output port exceeds the established threshold, update ER field in
RMs for all VCs on that port as:
ER ← min[ER, DPF x MACR]
where DPF is the down pressure factor parameter, typically set to 7/8.
 Effect: lowers ERs of VCs that are consuming more than fair share of switch capacity
ERICA
 Makes adjustments to ER based on switch load factor:
Load Factor (LF) = Input rate /Target rate
where input rate is averaged over a fixed interval, and target rate is typically 85-90% of link
bandwidth
 When LF > 1, congestion is threatened, and ERs are reduced by VC on a fair share basis:
– Fairshare = target rate/number of VCs
– Current VCshare = CCR/LF
– newER = min[oldER, max[Fairshare, VCshare]]

GFR Traffic Management

  Simple, like UBR
– no policing or shaping of traffic at end-system
– no guaranteed frame delivery
– depends on higher level protocols (like TCP) for reliable data transfer
mechanisms
 Like ABR, provides capacity reservation and traffic contract for QoS
– guaranteed minimum rate without loss
– Specify PCR, MCR, MBS, MFS, CDVT
 Requires that network recognize frames as well as cells
– in congestion, network discards whole frames, not just individual cells
GFR Mechanism

Frame-Based GCRA (F-GCRA)

4. Explain Frame Relay Congestion control mechanisms in TCP.

 Frame Relay Congestion Control
 Minimize frame discard
 Maintain QoS (per-connection bandwidth)
 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
Frame Relay Techniques

Congestion Avoidance with Explicit Signaling

Two general strategies considered:
 Hypothesis 1: Congestion always occurs slowly, almost always at egress nodes
– forward explicit congestion avoidance
 Hypothesis 2: Congestion grows very quickly in internal nodes and requires quick action
– backward explicit congestion avoidance
Congestion Control: BECN/FECN
FR - 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
Explicit Signaling Response
 Network Response
– each frame handler monitors its queuing behavior and takes action
– use FECN/BECN bits
– some/all connections notified of congestion
 User (end-system) Response
– receipt of BECN/FECN bits in frame
– BECN at sender: reduce transmission rate
– FECN at receiver: notify peer (via LAPF or higher layer) to restrict flow
Frame Relay Traffic Rate Management Parameters
 Committed Information Rate (CIR)
– Average data rate in bits/second that the network agrees to support for a
connection
 Data Rate of User Access Channel (Access Rate)
– Fixed rate link between user and network (for network access)
 Committed Burst Size (Bc)
– Maximum data over an interval agreed to by network
 Excess Burst Size (Be)
– Maximum data, above Bc, over an interval that network will attempt to transfer
Committed Information Rate (CIR) Operation
Relationship of Congestion Parameters

Note that T=Bc/CIR

5. Explain types of traffic control functions used in atm networks & QOS parameters.
Traffic Control and Congestion Functions

Traffic Control Strategy

 Determine whether new ATM connection can be accommodated

 Agree performance parameters with subscriber
 Traffic contract between subscriber and network
  This is congestion avoidance
 If it fails congestion may occur
– Invoke congestion control
Traffic Control

 Resource management using virtual paths

 Connection admission control
 Usage parameter control
 Selective cell discard
 Traffic shaping
 Explicit forward congestion indication
Resource Management Using Virtual Paths

 Allocate resources so that traffic is separated according to service characteristics

 Virtual path connection (VPC) are groupings of virtual channel connections (VCC)
Applications

 User-to-user applications
– VPC between UNI pair
– No knowledge of QoS for individual VCC
– User checks that VPC can take VCCs’ demands
 User-to-network applications
– VPC between UNI and network node
– Network aware of and accommodates QoS of VCCs
 Network-to-network applications
– VPC between two network nodes
– Network aware of and accommodates QoS of VCCs
Resource Management Concerns

 Cell loss ratio

 Max cell transfer delay
 Peak to peak cell delay variation
 All affected by resources devoted to VPC
 If VCC goes through multiple VPCs, performance depends on consecutive VPCs and on
node performance
– VPC performance depends on capacity of VPC and traffic characteristics of
VCCs
– VCC related function depends on switching/processing speed and priority
Traffic Parameters

 Traffic pattern of flow of cells

– Intrinsic nature of traffic
 Source traffic descriptor
– Modified inside network
 Connection traffic descriptor
Source Traffic Descriptor

 Peak cell rate

– Upper bound on traffic that can be submitted
– Defined in terms of minimum spacing between cells T
– PCR = 1/T
– Mandatory for CBR and VBR services
 Sustainable cell rate
– Upper bound on average rate
– Calculated over large time scale relative to T
– Required for VBR
– Enables efficient allocation of network resources between VBR sources
– Only useful if SCR < PCR
 Maximum burst size
– Max number of cells that can be sent at PCR
– If bursts are at MBS, idle gaps must be enough to keep overall rate below SCR
– Required for VBR
 Minimum cell rate
– Min commitment requested of network
– Can be zero
– Used with ABR and GFR
– ABR & GFR provide rapid access to spare network capacity up to PCR
– PCR – MCR represents elastic component of data flow
– Shared among ABR and GFR flows
 Maximum frame size
– Max number of cells in frame that can be carried over GFR connection
– Only relevant in GFR
Connection Traffic Descriptor
Includes source traffic descriptor plus:-
Cell delay variation tolerance
Amount of variation in cell delay introduced by network interface and UNI
Bound on delay variability due to slotted nature of ATM, physical layer overhead and
layer functions (e.g. cell multiplexing)
Represented by time variable τ
Conformance definition
Specify conforming cells of connection at UNI
Enforced by dropping or marking cells over definition

Quality of Service Parameters-maxCTD

 Cell transfer delay (CTD)
Time between transmission of first bit of cell at source and reception of last bit at
destination
Typically has probability density function (see next slide)
Fixed delay due to propagation etc.
Cell delay variation due to buffering and scheduling
Maximum cell transfer delay (maxCTD)is max requested delay for connection
Fraction α of cells exceed threshold
Discarded or delivered late
Peak-to-peak CDV & CLR
Peak-to-peak Cell Delay Variation
Remaining (1-α) cells within QoS
Delay experienced by these cells is between fixed delay and maxCTD
This is peak-to-peak CDV
CDVT is an upper bound on CDV
Cell loss ratio
Ratio of cells lost to cells transmitted
6. Retransmission timer management techniques in TCP
Retransmission Strategy

 TCP relies exclusively on positive acknowledgements and retransmission on

acknowledgement timeout
 There is no explicit negative acknowledgement
 Retransmission required when:
 Segment arrives damaged, as indicated by checksum error, causing receiver to discard
segment
 Segment fails to arrive
Timers

A timer is associated with each segment as it is sent

 If timer expires before segment acknowledged, sender must retransmit

 Key Design Issue:
value of retransmission timer
 Too small: many unnecessary retransmissions, wasting network bandwidth
 Too large: delay in handling lost segment
 Two Strategies
 Timer should be longer than round-trip delay (send segment, receive ack)
 Delay is variable
Strategies:

 Fixed timer
 Adaptive
Problems with Adaptive Scheme

 Peer TCP entity may accumulate acknowledgements and not acknowledge immediately
 For retransmitted segments, can’t tell whether acknowledgement is response to original
transmission or retransmission
 Network conditions may change suddenly
Adaptive Retransmission Timer

 Average Round-Trip Time (ARTT)

K+1

ARTT(K + 1) = 1 ∑ RTT(i)

K+1 i=1

= K ART(K) + 1 RTT(K + 1)

K+1 K+1

RFC 793 Exponential Averaging

Smoothed Round-Trip Time (SRTT)

SRTT(K + 1) = α × SRTT(K)

+ (1 – α) × SRTT(K + 1)

The older the observation, the less it is counted in the average.

RFC 793 Retransmission Timeout

RTO(K + 1) = Min(UB, Max(LB, β × SRTT(K + 1)))

UB, LB: prechosen fixed upper and lower bounds

Example values for α, β:

0.8 < α < 0.9 1.3 < β < 2.0Implementation Policy Options
 Send
 Deliver
 Accept
In-order

In-window

 Retransmit
First-only

Batch

individual

 Acknowledge
immediate

cumulative

Part A

7. What is Back Pressure?

Signals are exchanged between switching elements in adjacent stages so that the generic SE
can grant a packet transmission to its upstream SE’s only within the current idle buffer
capacity.

8. Difference between CBR and Real time variable bit rate(rt-VBR)

Constant Bit Rate (CBR)

 Requires that a fixed data rate be made available by the ATM provider.
 The network must ensure that this capacity is available and also polices the incoming
traffic on a CBR connection to ensure that the subscriber does not exceed its
allocation.
Real time variable bit rate (rt-VBR)

 The faster rate is guaranteed, but it is understood that the user will not continuously
require this faster rate.

 A VBR connection is defined in terms of a sustained rate for a normal use and a faster
burst rate for occasional use at peak periods.
9. Define BECN and FECN.
In a frame relay network, FECN (forward explicit congestion notification) is a header bit
transmitted by the source (sending) terminal requesting that the destination (receiving)
terminal slow down its requests for data.
BECN (backward explicit congestion notification) is a header bit transmitted by the
destination terminal requesting that the source terminal send data more slowly. FECN and
BECN are intended to minimize the possibility that packets will be discarded (and thus have
to be resent) when more packets arrive than can be handled.

10. Define Round-trip time(RTT)

Round Trip Time, or RTT, refers to the amount of time it takes for a signal to travel from a
particular terrestrial system to a designated satellite and back to its source. Round Trip Time
is also referred to as Round Trip Delay. RTT may also be used to find the best possible route.
The signal is generally a data packet, and the RTT time is also known as the ping time.

11. Define PCR and MCR

Peak cell rate (PCR) is an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) term to describe the rate in cells
per second that the source device may never exceed. Upper bound on traffic submitted by source
(PCR = 1/T, where T = minimum cell spacing).

Minimum Cell Rate (MCR) is an ATM ABR service traffic descriptor, in cells/sec, that is
the minimum rate at which the source is always allowed to be sent. Used with ABR and
GFR… minimum cell rate requested, access to unused capacity up to PCR (elastic capacity =
PCR-MCR?)

12. What are the effects of congestion?

Effects of congestion are,

 Buffers fill
 Packets discarded
 Sources retransmit
  Routers generate more traffic to update paths
 Good packets present
 Delays and costs propagate

13. What is the difference between flow control & congestion control?
Flow control means preventing the source from sending data that the sink will end up
dropping because it runs out of buffer space. This is fairly easy with a sliding window
protocol--just make sure the source's window is no larger than the free space in the sink's
buffer. TCP does this by letting the sink advertise its free buffer space in the window field of
the acknowledgements.
Congestion control means preventing (or trying to prevent) the source from sending data
that will end up getting dropped by a router because its queue is full.
This is more complicated, because packets from different sources travelling different paths
can converge on the same queue.

14. What are the congestion control techniques?

 Backpressure
 Policing
 Choke packet
 Implicit congestion signaling
 Explicit congestion signaling