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Inverted Capacity Extended Engineering Experiment (ICE3)
Traffic Analysis
The primary question being posed is "What would happen if the last-mile/core
bandwidth capacity were inverted?". To begin to answer this question we
first need a solid understanding of:
- What traffic flows over existing networks?
- What traffic will flow over future - high capacity
- networks such as the NBN
- How do different types of traffic interact with each other over the network?
- How do network induced problems impact on the experience and performance
perceived by the end user?
To this end, we plan to use a series of tools developed both
in-house at CAIA, and externally, to gain a better understanding of what is happening
in the network. It is also expected that these tools would be useful for others who
are not only interested in the same outcomes, but also in observing the behaviours
exhibited by the networks in an attempt to improve network management.
Who Generated That Traffic?
One of the big problems when analysing traffic at higher levels, in particular at
the application layer or obtaining end-user relevant information, is in knowing
what application generated which traffic. This process falls under the general
concept of Traffic Classification which also
forms a key part of the work in ICE3.
Inferring The Nature Of The Network
It is often not possible to have a complete picture of the state of the Internet
as seen by a client, nor is it likely that a user will be able to analyse the
performance of parts of the network operated by third parties. Instead we often
have to infer the nature and capabilities of broadband links and other parts
of the network.
It is possible to determine many aspects of the network by the measurement - and
subsequent analysis - of traffic patterns generated and received at the network
endpoints. This measurement can be performed at various levels using tools such as:
- SIFTR to
to log and track the dynamics of individual TCP sessions
- NetSniff
to analyse the application layer performance, whilst also exploring estimated
RTT of individual network flows
- SPP to estimate the
RTT between two hosts if we have access to both endpoints
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