Showing papers on "Traffic classification published in 2002"

Method, apparatus and software for network traffic management

Abstract: A network traffic evaluation device is provided that may be used to warn of or prevent trafficabnormalities such as denial of service attacks. The device includes a data interface to receive one or both of network traffic and data indicative of characteristics of network traffic. The network traffic and/or data received by the data interface is processed for predeterminedcharacteristics that indicate that the network traffic contains a subset of attack traffic. Upon detection of the predetermined characteristics information defining a superset is provided. The superset is a portion of the network traffic that contains the subset and defines network traffic that may be redirected and/or blocked by a network device.

Network game traffic modelling

Abstract: A significant share of today's Internet traffic is generated by network gaming. This kind of traffic is interesting in regard to it's market potential as well as to it's real time requirements on the network. For the consideration of game traffic in network dimensioning, traffic models are required that allow to generate a characteristic load for analytical or simulative performance evaluation of networks. In this paper we evaluate the fast action multiplayer game ,,Counter Strike" from a 36 hour LAN party measurement and present traffic models for client and server. The paper concludes with remarks on the use of game traffic models in simulations and on QoS metrics for an adequate evaluation of simulation results.

Systems and methods for identifying anomalies in network data streams

Abstract: A traffic auditor ( 130 ) analyzes traffic in a communications network ( 100 ). The traffic auditor ( 130 ) performs traffic analysis on traffic in the communications network ( 100 ) and develops a model of expected traffic behavior based on the traffic analysis. The traffic auditor ( 130 ) analyzes traffic in the communications network ( 100 ) to identify a deviation from the expected traffic behavior model.

Traffic switching using multi-dimensional packet classification

Abstract: A method and system for conveying an arbitrary mixture of high and low latency traffic streams across a common switch fabric implements a multi-dimensional traffic classification scheme, in which multiple orthogonal traffic classification methods are successively implemented for each traffic stream traversing the system. At least two diverse paths are mapped through the switch fabric, each path being optimized to satisfy respective different latency requirements. A latency classifier is adapted to route each traffic stream to a selected path optimized to satisfy latency requirements most closely matching a respective latency requirement of the traffic stream. A prioritization classifier independently prioritizes traffic streams in each path. A fairness classifier at an egress of each path can be used to enforce fairness between responsive and non-responsive traffic streams in each path. This arrangement enables traffic streams having similar latency requirements to traverse the system through a path optimized for those latency requirements.

QoS control middleware in integrated network, QoS control method, and the program for the same

Abstract: An integrated QoS control system is provided that transmits, in real time, the stream data between a bandwidth-guaranteed network and a bandwidth-not-guaranteed network. The QoS manager 102 records the remaining bandwidth of the bandwidth-guaranteed network 2 captured by the remaining bandwidth table capturer 103 and the remaining bandwidth of the bandwidth-not-guaranteed network 1 calculated with traffic information notified by the network status monitor 107 on the use bandwidth registration table 104 (for comprehensively managing the bandwidth of an integrated network). The Qos manager 102 converts a QoS parameter received via the QoS request receiver 106 into a traffic parameter and controllably adapts the value of the traffic parameter to a service quality required by the application 109.

Method for automatically classifying traffic with enhanced hierarchy in a packet communications network

Abstract: In packet communication, a method for automatically classifying packet flows for use in allocating bandwidth resources and the like by a rule of assignment of a service level. By rendering discoverable the attributes of a flow specification for packet flows, a finer grained hierarchy of classification is provided automatically that is based on information which is specific to the type of program or application supported by the flow and thus allowing greater flexibility in control over different flows within the same application. The method comprises applying individual instances of traffic classification paradigms to packet network flows based on selectable information obtained from a plurality of layers to define a characteristic class, then mapping the flow to the defined traffic class. The flow specification is provided with some application-specific attributes, some of which are discoverable. The discoverable attributes lead to an ability to automatically create sub-nodes of nodes for finer-grained control.

Methods, apparatuses and systems facilitating analysis of the performance of network traffic classification configurations

Abstract: Methods apparatuses and systems allowing for an examination of the runtime performance and efficiency of traffic classification configuration associated with bandwidth management and other network devices including network traffic classification functionality. Embodiments of the present invention are operative to identify possible changes to the current traffic classification configurations that improve performance efficiency.

Engineering end-to-end IP resilience using resilience-differentiated QoS

Abstract: Network resilience is becoming a key issue in the design of IP-based multimedia and multiservice networks. The current discussion about IP network resilience centers around MPLS-based recovery mechanisms. Any well designed recovery strategy has to take into account the different resilience requirements of the single traffic flows in order to avoid excessive usage of bandwidth for standby links. Faced with multiple recovery options, an ISP or NSP must decide which flows to protect to what extent against network failures. In this article an extension to existing quality of service (QoS) architectures is presented that integrates the signaling of resilience requirements with the traditional QoS signaling. We refer to this extended QoS model as resilience-differentiated QoS (RD-QoS). At the border of MPLS domains, the resilience requirements can then be directly mapped to the appropriate MPLS recovery options. A traffic engineering process for the provisioning of the resilience classes is introduced, and a case study demonstrates the significant network capacity savings achievable via this approach.

Classification data structure enabling multi-dimensional network traffic classification and control schemes

Abstract: Methods, apparatuses and systems facilitating hierarchical network traffic classification and resource allocation schemes. In one embodiment, the present invention provides traffic classification data structure facilitating creation and configuration of multi-dimensional, hierarchical network resource allocation schemes. The present invention features a hierarchical network traffic classification scheme that allows users to logically embed (or otherwise associate) one or more reference trees within selected traffic class nodes of a given traffic classification tree. In one embodiment, an administrator can create a pool of referenceable traffic classification trees and select such trees or sub-trees from the pool to achieve a variety of different traffic classification configurations. The present invention, in one embodiment, also facilitates the implementation of a system or domain-level workflow interface that features managed access links as configurable objects as opposed to the network devices operating on the access links.

Signaling for parameterized quality of service (QoS) support

Abstract: The creation, modification, and deletion of a traffic stream 224 with parameterized QoS expectations between two communicating stations 205 and 207, when there is no built-in mechanism for support of parameterized QoS expectations, requires signaling of traffic characteristics and QoS parameters between the management entities such as SME 212 and MLME 214 and between the MAC entities of the communicating stations 205 and 207. Either the station 205 and 207 or a hybrid coordinator may initiate the signaling. The end result of the signaling is the creation of a new traffic stream that is used to associate user traffic to a particular set of traffic characteristics and QoS parameters, which are then used in the scheduling of the transmission of the user traffic. Another end result of the signaling is the modification of an existing traffic stream in terms of its traffic characteristics and QoS parameters.

Designing traffic profiles for bursty Internet traffic

Abstract: The paper proposes a new class of traffic profiles that is better suited for metering bursty Internet traffic streams than the traditional token bucket profile. A good traffic profile should satisfy two criteria: first, it should consider packets from a conforming traffic stream as in-profile with high probability to ensure a strong QoS guarantee; second, it should limit the network resources consumed by a non-conforming traffic stream to no more than that consumed by a conforming stream. We model a bursty Internet traffic stream as an ON/OFF stream, where both the ON-period and the OFF-period have a heavy-tailed distribution. Our study shows that the heavy-tailed distribution leads to an excessive randomness in the long-term session rate distribution. Therefore, it is inherently difficult for any profile that limits the long-term average session rate to give a strong QoS guarantee for the conforming traffic streams. Our simulation demonstrates that a token bucket profile that couples the average rate control and the burst size control has a weak QoS guarantee. Based on this result, we propose a new class of traffic profiles that decouples the long term average rate control from the burst size control. Compared to a token bucket profile, this profile improves the level of QoS for a conforming traffic stream, yet limits the "effective bandwidth" consumed by a non-conforming traffic stream.

Data transmission in a packet-oriented communication network

Abstract: According to the present invention, a large scale traffic distribution is carried out in a packet-oriented communication network. Said distribution results, in a simple, practical and inexpensive way, for all the services and applications which reliably and efficiently preserve their specific quality of service (QoS) requirements, in a highly balanced quality of service with best effort character. Preferably, there is in said traffic at least a priority class traffic whereof the traffic concerned is transmitted in distributed manner and in packets with strict priority in the communication network. The observance of specific quality of service requirements is monitored at least for the priority traffic. Classification in the priority class traffic enables to provide an adequate quality of service, even for real-time services and applications.

A practical approach for providing QoS in the Internet backbone

Abstract: This article describes a practical approach for providing quality of service in the Internet backbone. The approach considers both technical and economic factors. We first present network service provider (NSP) billing models and how NSPs provision their networks. We then analyze causes of QoS-related problems, and describe a practical approach for providing QoS. This approach makes use of good network design, differentiated services, traffic protection, traffic engineering, and traffic management techniques. The relative importance of these techniques is pointed out. Although this approach largely focuses on issues within a single NSP domain, if multiple NSPs adopt such an approach (or a similar approach), interdomain QoS can also be provided.

Self-adaptive scheduling method and network element

Abstract: The present invention relates to a method and network element for scheduling data transmission in a packet data network, e.g. a differentiated services network. Data traffic of a predetermined traffic class is classified based on a predetermined traffic profile, e.g. responsive or non-responsive traffic, and an in-profile rate of the data traffic is estimated. Then, a weight determining a transmit order of queued data packets of said predetermined traffic class is adjusted according to the estimated in-profile rate. Thus, the data traffic is marked into different classes based on the traffic profile and a queue scheduler improves fairness between the classified flows in the packet data network. Thereby, enhanced fairness between traffic profiles can be achieved easily and effectively.

Method, computer software products, client terminal, network element and network for efficient use of network resources by just-in-time modulation of quality of service based on service usage and user behavior

Abstract: The invention relates to observing requests, deriving quality of service (QoS) demands and scheduling the network's resources in terms of QoS. A scheduler is modulating the QoS based on service usage and user-behavior just-in-time. It relates to a method for efficient use of network resources by just-in-time modulation of quality of service based on real-time service-usage and user-behavior comprising steps recording events, generating a synthesis of user-behavior for a QoS user profile according to QoS user preferences, predicting required QoS demand based on current user behavior and user QoS profile, according to QoS user preferences, deriving and propagating QoS demands and allocations, and co-ordination of QoS request of a manifold of users, based on requests, QoS user profiles, QoS user preferences and resources. Further it relates to computer software product, client terminals, a scheduler server, a network element, and a network.

Application profiling of IP traffic

Abstract: Application profiling is a critical step in QoS solution design of today's IP networks. To aggregate applications into QoS classes effectively, one has to know the key characteristics of the applications. This is needed to arrive at a QoS solution design that meets the QoS targets for all applications, while allowing for maximum use of the network link capacities. We collected NetFlow data at several locations on a corporate intranet and analyzed the data producing flow, packet and byte application breakdowns. For the most popular and bandwidth-consuming applications, we analyzed the stochastic characteristics like distributions of flow lengths, packet sizes, throughputs, etc. Our study reveals that the measured traffic composition does not vary much on a day-by-day basis, but that it can be very different from location to location. Therefore traffic measurements have to be collected at each congested link in the network, since singular measurements may lead to inaccurate assessments of the live traffic mix, resulting in ineffective QoS solution designs. Also, to account for changes in user behavior, in- or decrease of the user population and changes in the application mix, the process of traffic profiling should be repeated every 3-6 months.

Capture file format system and method for a network analyzer

Abstract: A system, method and computer program product are provided for analyzing a network. Initially, network traffic information relating to network traffic is collected. Next, the network traffic information is encrypted. In use, the network traffic information is capable of being analyzed by a network analyzer adapted for decrypting the network traffic information.

QoS provisioning using traffic shaping and policing in 3rd-generation wireless networks

Abstract: According to the recently presented QoS architecture by 3GPP, a traffic conditioner may be deployed to provide conformance of the negotiated QoS in UMTS The traffic conditioning is performed by traffic shaping or/and policing A framework of traffic conditioning with QoS provisioning in the 3G radio access network is proposed in this paper The main idea of our traffic conditioning approach is to employ traffic shaping at each user equipment (UE) and traffic policing at the RNC The traffic generated at each UE is regulated by a traffic shaper in the form of a token bucket, and the conformance of the traffic is policed at the RNC according to traffic policing policies A system model based on the proposed framework is implemented The simulation results regarding the impact of traffic shaping on packet discarding probability, the tradeoff between probability of non-compliance and shaping delay are also presented in this paper

An off-line traffic engineering model for MPLS networks

Abstract: In this study, an offline traffic engineering model for multi-protocol label switching (MPLS) networks is introduced. The model aims at mapping the traffic trunks, consisting of both best-effort traffic and traffic with QoS requirements, onto the network. For an optimal network management, three different objectives are taken into consideration, namely minimal routing delay, optimal load-balance in the network, and minimal splitting of traffic trunks. This multi-criteria network optimization problem is formulated as a mixed integer problem. A case study is carried out in order to analyze the basic properties of the model and the trade-off between the objectives for different types of traffic.

Implicit traffic classification for service differentiation

Abstract: Current trends indicate that traffic handling in the networks of the next generation will include service differentiation. Traffic classification is a fundamental problem to be solved before this objective can be achieved. In this work we propose a unique scheme to classify Internet traffic into flows over a time frame, based on the application to which the packets belong. One key aspect of our scheme is that it does not involve reading the OSI layer 4 header to determine the application. This ‘implicit’ classification builds a foundation for estimation and prediction of traffic mix, which is a long-term goal of this research project. The classification results mentioned in this paper indicate that this approach is promising.

Modelling network traffic behaviour

Abstract: A method of modelling network traffic behaviour comprises transmitting network traffic through a communications network at a transmission rate and receiving at a traffic receiver the network traffic from the communications network. Feedback data is then derived from the network traffic received by the traffic receiver and used to generate instructions for altering the network traffic transmission rate. The network traffic is then transmitted through the network at the altered transmission rate according to the instructions.

Traffic classification for application specific peering

Abstract: Peer-to-Peer (P2P) applications [4], [6], [2], [3] have increased traffic significantly. We propose application specific peering that allows searches for a resource (using existing or modified P2P protocols) to be directed to a copy of resource on an ISP’s network, using a novel technique that automatica lly classifies traffic (shown in Fig 1) as belonging to an ISP, its c ustomers, peers, or their customers. We examined a large amoun t of traffic belonging to three popular P2P protocols and used a graph transformation to detect connected components. We pa rtition traffic in each component into signaling and data sect ions based on request/response sizes of P2P protocols and extrac t high traffic volume (by bytes) entities by examining large co nnected components in the graph. We discuss the important com ponents of our traffic classification system here. We analyzed router-level data from multiple Internet Gatew y Routers (IGRs) across AT&T IP backbone using Cisco’s NetFlow services. Note that statistics are from a subset of IGRs at some AT&T’s peering links. They are not representative of ov erall traffic pattern on AT&T IP backbone. We examined DirectConnect[2], Gnutella[3], and FastTrack[4], extracting re cords that matched the default application ports (source or desti nation, 411/412, 6346/6347, and 1214 (FastTrack) respective ly), involving TCP traffic. Data was gathered over three separate months in 2001, each lasting 5-7 days. The number of netflow records varies from a low of 0.5M (DirectConnect) to a high

A validation of the pseudo self-similar traffic model

Abstract: Since the early 1990s, a variety of studies has shown that network traffic, both for local- and wide-area networks, has self-similarity properties. This has led to new approaches in network traffic modelling. Instead of developing completely new traffic models, a number of researchers have proposed to adapt traditional traffic modelling approaches to incorporate aspects of self-similarity. The motivation for doing so is the hope to be able to reuse techniques and tools that have been developed in the past and with which experience has been gained. One such an approach for a traffic model that incorporates aspects of self-similarity is the so-called pseudo self-similar traffic model. This model is appealing, as it is easy, to understand and easily embedded in Markovian performance evaluation studies. In applying this model in a number of cases, we have perceived various problems which we initially, thought were particular to these specific cases. We briefly review the pseudo self-similar traffic model and discuss its fundamental shortcomings.

QoS routing algorithms for multiple traffic classes

Abstract: One of the most important features of the next generation Internet is the ability to provide quality of service (QoS) guarantee. Recent developments in the Internet provide at least two types of service. For example, guaranteed service and controlled load service in Integrated Services networks, and expedited forwarding and assured forwarding in Differentiated Services networks. Providing guaranteed service and expedited service, referred to as bandwidth-guaranteed traffic, requires reservation of a fixed amount of bandwidth while controlled load service and assured forwarding service, referred to as fair-shared traffic, requires reservation of a minimum amount of bandwidth to ensure finite queue length. Routing in a network with these two types of service should take their traffic and QoS characteristics into consideration. In this paper, we propose two routing algorithms that use different cost functions and routing strategies when routing different classes of traffic. Our simulation results show that the proposed soft routing algorithm is able to yield low blocking probability for bandwidth-guaranteed traffic and high max-min fair share rate for fair-shared traffic under various traffic conditions.

A framework of integrating network QoS and end system QoS

Abstract: With the development of high-speed backbone networks, more and more traffic load is pushed to the Internet edge equipment and end hosts. Newly emerged bottleneck problems in end systems ask for quality of service (QoS) to be deployed in them. Meanwhile, the tremendous traffic brought by multimedia communications asks for end-to-end QoS. Facing these facts and challenges, a framework of deploying QoS in end systems is presented. The framework aims at both relieving bottleneck problems through utilizing limited resources efficiently and guaranteeing end-to-end QoS by integrating network QoS and end system QoS. In addition, the framework combines the functions of managing both network QoS and end system QoS.

Routing metrics for best-effort traffic

Abstract: Most of the QoS routing research in the literature attempts to increase the performance of QoS traffic without explicitly considering the performance of the best-effort traffic in the network. However, although the trend in the development and use of real-time multimedia applications is on the rise, traditional data applications are still expected to be a dominant percentage of the Internet traffic. Developing routing schemes for best-effort traffic when it coexists with QoS traffic to provide an acceptable performance to the best-effort traffic is thus critical. In this paper we study the effectiveness of the link utilization metric for routing best-effort traffic in a network that supports both QoS as well as best-effort traffic. The main contribution of this paper lies in demonstrating the feasibility of using the link utilization metric and quantifying the improvement in performance so obtained under various distributions of network load. Our results indicate that utilization based routing of best-effort traffic dynamically adapts to the distribution of the QoS traffic in the network, and demonstrates a significant improvement in the performance of best-effort traffic, when compared to the performance obtained by routing best-effort traffic using the static hop count metric.

Multifractal characterization for classification of telecommunications traffic

Abstract: A novel multifractal approach to telecommunications traffic classification is presented as an improvement over traditional traffic classifiers. The fundamental advantages of using multifractal measures include normalization and a very high compression ratio of a signature of the traffic, thus leading to more reliable and faster implementations, and the ability to add new traffic classes without redesigning the traffic classifier. The variance fractal dimension trajectory is used to provide a multifractal "signature" for each type of traffic over its duration. As a multifractal, the Renyi dimension spectrum is constructed to show the unique characteristics of each type of traffic. A probabilistic neural network is trained with the variance fractal dimension trajectory of the traffic, and has demonstrated 90.7% classification accuracy with a 585:1 compression ratio, and 90.4% classification accuracy with a 1024:1 compression ratio.

Characterization of class-based traffic flows in multiservice IP networks

Abstract: Recently, a framework for the development of multiservice IP networks based on a mixture of DiffServ-based QoS management and MPLS-based traffic engineering has been defined. This approach is based on the aggregation of individual flows into classes and on the provisioning of QoS to the class instead of a single flow. With these developments, it is important to model and characterize the traffic flows on a per class basis in order to plan and manage these networks to meet performance objectives (QoS) as required by various traffic classes. This paper addresses the problem of characterizing class-based traffic flows in a multiservice IP network. It provides simple models that can be used to take measurement-based data and translate it into a form that is suitable for implementing dimensioning and planning functions in these networks.