1 12/23/22 12:20 Rivier College CS575: Advanced LANs ATM Traffic

1 12/23/22 12:20 Rivier College CS575: Advanced LANs ATM Traffic Management CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 1

2 12/23/22 12:20 Overview 0 Why Traffic Management? 0 Network Congestion 0 Effects of Network Congestion 0 Traffic Parameters 0 ATM Service Categories 0 Quality of Service (QoS) 0 Quality of Service (QoS) Parameters 0 Traffic Contract Jain 0 Traffic Control Functions 0 Usage Parameter Control 0 Packet Discarding CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 2

3 12/23/22 12:20 Why Traffic Management? 0 The ATM technology is intended to support a wide variety of services and applications such as voice, video, and data 0 ATM promises to support all these different requirements with a common network 0 Within such a network all connections may impact on each other 0 ATM must manage traffic fairly and provide effective allocation of network resources for these different applications 0 It is the task of ATM traffic control to: - protect the network and the end-systems from congestion in order to provide specified and guaranteed levels of Quality of Service (QoS) - use available network resources efficiently CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 3

4 12/23/22 12:20 Network Congestion 0 Network congestion is a state when the network cannot meet the negotiated network performance objectives for established connections or for new connection requests 0 Network congestion can be caused by: - Unpredictable statistical fluctuation of traffic flows - Fault conditions within the network 0 ATM layer traffic control is a set of actions taken by the network to avoid network congestion 0 Traffic control takes measures to adapt to unpredictable fluctuations in traffic flows and other problems within the network. 0 ATM layer congestion control refers to the set of actions taken by the network to minimize the intensity, spread, and duration of congestion CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 4

5 12/23/22 12:20 Effects of Network Congestion Source: Stallings: Data and Computer Communications p316 CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 5

6 12/23/22 12:20 Traffic Parameters 0 Traffic parameters describe traffic characteristics of a connection 0 For a given connection, traffic parameters are grouped into a source traffic descriptor 0 Traffic parameters specified in ATM Forum UNI - Peak Cell Rate (PCR) An upper bound on the rate that traffic can be submit on a connection Measured in cells/second - Sustainable Cell Rate (SCR) An upper bound on the average cell rate of a burst traffic of an ATM connection Measured in cells/second Calculated over the duration of the connection CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 6

7 12/23/22 12:20 Traffic Parameters (concluded) - Maximum Burst Size (MBS) The maximum number of cells that can be sent at the peak cell rate - Minimum Cell Rate (MCR) The minimum number of cells that the user considers acceptable CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 7

8 12/23/22 12:20 ATM Service Categories 0 ATM carries a wide range of heterogeneous traffic mix 0 To ensure network resources are fairly allocated for each traffic type, ATM services are divided into different service categories 0 Each ATM service category represents a class of ATM connections that have homogeneous characteristics in terms of traffic pattern, QoS requirements, and possible use of control mechanisms, making it suitable for a given type of resource allocation 0 The ATM Forum specifies the following five categories of services: - CBR: Constant Bit Rate - rt-VBR: Real-Time Variable Bit Rate - nrt-VBR: Non-Real-Time Variable Bit Rate - UBR: Unspecified Bit Rate - ABR: Available bit Rate CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 8

9 12/23/22 12:20 ATM Service Categories (continued) 0 All service categories apply to both VCCs and VPCs. 0 ATM services are characterized by the traffic parameters: 0 Constant Bit Rate (CBR) - Requires a fixed amount of bandwidth continuously available during the connection lifetime - The amount of bandwidth is characterized by a Peak Cell Rate (PCR) value CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 9

10 12/23/22 12:20 ATM Service Categories (continued) - The source can transmit cells at the PCR at any time and for any duration - Intended to support real-time applications - Requires tightly constrained delay and delay variation - Application examples: interactive (real-time) voice, video, and circuit emulation 0 Real-Time Variable Bit Rate (rt-VBR) - Intended for real-time applications - Requires tightly constrained delay and delay variation - Characterized by a PCR, Sustainable Cell Rate (SCR), and Maximum Burst Size (MBS) - The source may transmit bursty traffic, e.g., Motion JPEG or MPEG compressed video CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 10

11 12/23/22 12:20 ATM Service Architecture (continued) - Application Example: native ATM voice with compression, interactive (real-time) compressed video (videoconferencing), and other types of multimedia communications CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 11

12 12/23/22 12:20 ATM Service Categories (continued) 0 Non-Real-Time Varible Bit Rate (nrt-VBR) - Intended for non-real-time applications - Source transmits bursty traffic - Characterized by a PCR, SCR, and MBS - Requires low Cell Loss Ratio (CLR) - May support statistical multiplexing of connections - No delay bounds are associated with this service category - Application Example: Critical response time transaction processing such as airline reservations, banking transactions, processing monitoring CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 12

13 12/23/22 12:20 ATM Service Categories (continued) 0 Unspecified Bit Rate (UBR) - Intended for non-real-time, bursty applications - Does not specify traffic related service guarantees - No commitment is made about cell transfer delay - No commitment is made as to cell loss ratio experienced by cells on the connection - Best effort service - Application example: E-mail, LAN traffic, and TCP/IP traffic 0 Available Bit Rate (ABR) - Intended for bursty traffic whose bandwidth range is known roughly - End system specifies maximum required bandwidth (PCR) and minimum usable bandwidth (MCR) CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 13

14 12/23/22 12:20 ATM Service Categories (continued) - The cell rate provided by the network can change throughout the connection - The user gets what’s available CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 14

15 12/23/22 12:20 ATM Service Categories (continued) - The goal is to provide rapid access to unused network bandwidth at up to PCR whenever the network bandwidth is available - Cell loss ratio is minimal provided that the user adapts to the network’s feedback controls - Intended for non-real-time applications - Application example: file transfer, browsing the Web - No numeric commitment is made about cell transfer delay - Flow control mechanism specified - A rate-based service specified by the ATM Forum - Flow control model A source generates forward Resource Management cells (RM-cells) RM-cells are turned around by the destination as backward RM-cells CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 15

16 12/23/22 12:20 ATM Service Categories (concluded) Backward RM-cells carry feedback information provided by the network and/or destination to the source - The source performs dynamic traffic shaping based on feedback received from the network unspecified bit-rate and CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 16

17 12/23/22 12:20 Quality of Service (QoS) 0 QoS is a set of user-perceivable performance parameters that characterize the traffic over an ATM connection 0 Defined on an end-to-end basis 0 User requests a QoS class for an ATM connection 0 The requested QoS class is a part of the traffic contract 0 The network commits to meet the requested QoS as long as the user complies with the traffic contract 0 ATM Forum QoS Classes CS575 QoS Class QoS Parameters Application 0 1 2 3 4 Unspecified Specified Specified Specified Specified Best Effort, At Risk Circuit Emulation, CBR VBR Video/Audio Connection-Oriented Data Conectionless Data ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 17

18 12/23/22 12:20 Quality of Service (QoS) Parameters 0 QoS parameters describe the level of service for each connection 0 ATM Forum specified six QoS parameters 0 Through the use of network signaling to establish an ATM connection, three of these may be negotiated between the end-system and the network - Peak-to-peak Cell Delay Variation (peak-to-peak CDV) - Maximum Cell Transfer Delay (maxCTD) - Cell Loss Ratio (CLR) CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 18

19 12/23/22 12:20 Quality of Service (QoS) Parameters (continued) Cell Transfer Delay Probability Density Model Source: ATM Forum Traffic Management Specification Version 4.0 CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 19

20 12/23/22 12:20 Quality of Service (QoS) Parameters (continued) 0 Peak-to-peak Cell Delay Variation (peak-to-peak CDV) - Cell delay variation (CDV) is defined as a measure of cell clumping - It is how much more closely the cells are spaced than the nominal interval - Cells may be sent into the network evenly spaced, a variety of factors may contribute to cell clamping or gaps in the cell stream - If the network cannot properly control CDV, distortion can occur for real-time services such as voice, video, and multimedia applications - If cells arrive too closely together, cell buffers may overflow - Subscribers of CBR or VBR services need to specify this parameter CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 20

21 12/23/22 12:20 Quality of Service (QoS) Parameters (continued) 0 Maximum Cell Transfer Delay (maxCTD) - CTD is the elapsed time between a cell’s exit at the source and its entry at the destination - It includes both node processing and internode transmission time - Subscribers of CBR or VBR services need to specify this parameter 0 Cell Loss Ratio (CLR) - CLR (Lost Cells) / (Total Transmitted Cells) - Cells may be lost due to network malfunction discarded for noncompliance discarded in response to network congestion CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 21

22 12/23/22 12:20 Quality of Service (QoS) Parameters (concluded) 0 Higher values of cell loss is dominated by the effects of queuing strategy and buffer sizes 0 Delay, delay variation, and cell loss are impacted by buffer size and buffering strategy 0 The error rate is determined by fiber transmission characteristics CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 22

23 12/23/22 12:20 Traffic Contract 0 Agreement between user and network across UNI regarding: - The QoS that a network is expected to provide - The Connection Traffic Descriptor, which includes Source Traffic Descriptor Traffic Contract Cell Delay Variation Tolerance (CDVT) Conformance Definition - Source Traffic Descriptor Defines the characteristics of ATM traffic coming into the network Includes several negotiable traffic parameters: PCR, SCR, MBS, and Burst Tolerance (BT) Specifies flow for CLP 0 and/or CLP 0 1 - Cell Delay Variation Tolerance (CDVT) The upper bound on the cell clumping measure is CDVT CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 23

24 12/23/22 12:20 Traffic Contract (continued) It is the measure of how much cell clumping is acceptable resulting from network operations such as cell multiplexing or the insertion of OAM cells CDVT controls the amount of variability acceptable using a leaky bucket algorithm - Conformance Definition Defines what cell rates and streams will be monitored Defines the checking rule used to interpret the traffic parameters Defines the network’s definition of a compliant connection, i.e., what constitutes obeying the rules Conformance is determined by the Usage Parameter control (UPC) at the ingress to the network CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 24

25 12/23/22 12:20 Traffic Contract (concluded) 0 A separate traffic contract for each Virtual Path Connection (VPC) or Virtual Channel Connection (VCC) 0 Negotiated at connection time - Signaling message for SVC - Circuit provision for PVC CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 25

26 12/23/22 12:20 Traffic Control Functions 0 Connection Admission Control (CAC) 0 Usage Parameter Control (UPC) 0 Selective cell discarding 0 Traffic Shaping 0 Explicit Forward Congestion Indication (EFCI) 0 Cell Loss Priority Control 0 Network Resource Management (NRM) 0 Frame discard 0 ABR Flow Control 0 Others CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 26

27 12/23/22 12:20 Connection Admission Control 0 Responsible for determining whether a connection request is admitted or denied 0 For each connection request, CAC derives the following information from the traffic contract - Values of parameters in the source traffic descriptor - The requested and acceptable values of each QoS parameter and the requested QoS class - The value of the CDVT - The requested conformance definition - Based on that information and the network’s definition of a compliant connection to determine Whether the connection can be accepted or not The traffic parameters needed by UPC Allocation of network resource CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 27

28 12/23/22 12:20 Usage Parameter Control 0 What is UPC - Commonly known as Traffic Policing - A network traffic control mechanism - Required at the public UNI - Detects and stops user traffic violations - Ensures QoS for other connections 0 UPC Functions - Monitors cells submitted at the UNI - Checks for connection compliance Is the user sending data too quickly? Is the user obeying the traffic contract? - Checks validity of VPI/VCI values Is the user using the correct VPI/VCI? CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 28

29 12/23/22 12:20 Usage Parameter Control (continued) 0 UPC Action - For non-conforming cells Discard or Tag as low priority (overwriting CLP bit to 1) - For conforming cells Transparently pass or Traffic shape CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 29

30 12/23/22 12:20 Usage Parameter Control (continued) Discard cell No 0 In Valid VPI/VCI N o Yes Conform to PCR/CDV CLP 0 1 Yes Conform to SCR/BT CLP 0 Ye s Out CLP 1 N o Conform to SCR/BT CLP 1 Ye s No Discard cell CS575 Discard cell ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent Discard cell 30

31 12/23/22 12:20 Usage Parameter Control (continued) Generic Cell Rate Algorithm 0 Used to define conformance with respect to the traffic contract 0 For each cell arrival, GCRA determines whether the cell conforms to the traffic contract of the connection 0 The UPC function may implement GCRA to enforce conformance 0 Equivalent representations of the GCRA - Continuous-State Leaky Bucket Algorithm - Virtual Scheduling algorithm CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 31

32 12/23/22 12:20 Usage Parameter Control (concluded) Equivalent Versions of GCRA Arrival of a cell k at time ta(k) TAT: Theoretical Arrival Time ta(k): Time of arrival of a cell X’ X - (t a(k) LCT) Yes TAT ta(k) ? N o X’ 0 ? TAT ta (k) Ye s No Non Conformin g Cell Ye s X’ 0 TAT ta(k) L ? N o TAT TAT I Conforming Cell Virtual Scheduling Algorithm CS575 Non Conformin g Cell Ye s X’ L ? N o X X’ I LCT ta(k) Conforming Cell Continuous-State Leaky Bucket Algorithm ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 32

33 12/23/22 12:20 Selective Cell Discard and EFCI 0 Selective Cell discard - A congested network may selectively discard cells which meet either or both the following conditions: Cells which belong to a non-compliant ATM connection Cells which have CLP 1 - This is to protect the CLP 0 flow as much as possible 0 Explicit Forward congestion Indication (EFCI) - A network element in an impending congested state or a congested state may set an EFCI in the cell header - This indication may be examined by the destination end-system - The end-system may adaptively lower the cell rate of the connection CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 33

34 12/23/22 12:20 Traffic Shaping 0 A mechanism that alters the traffic characteristics of a cell stream on a connection to achieve better network efficiency or to ensure conformance to the traffic parameters in the traffic contract 0 Traffic shaping examples: - Peak cell rate reduction - Burst length limiting - Spacing cells in time to reduce CDV - Cell scheduling policy CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 34

35 12/23/22 12:20 Resource Management 0 Resource Management - Two critical resources Buffer space Trunk bandwidth - One way of simplifying the management of the trunk bandwidth is through the use of virtual paths If every node in a network is interconnected by a VPC, then only the total available entry-to-exit VPC bandwidth need be considered in CAC decisions A VPC is easier to manage as a larger aggregate than multiple, individual VCCs CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 35

36 12/23/22 12:20 Packet Discarding 0 The ATM Adaptation Layer (AAL) segments higher layer packets into small fixed-size cells for transporting over the ATM network 0 A cell discarded by a switch causes the loss of the entire packet and eventually requires end-to-end error recovery through packet retransmission 0 A small congestion problem could potentially escalate to a more serious one 0 To prevent congestion escalation, Early Packet Discard (EPD) and Partial Packet Discard (PPD) can be used to discard cells on a packet basis 0 EPD and PPD are applied for ABR and UBR traffic of AAL-5 connections 0 EPD - When congestion occurs and buffers are filling, EPD discards all cells associated with a new packet arriving at a queue CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 36

37 12/23/22 12:20 Packet Discarding (continued) - The remaining buffer space can then be used for cells belonging to packets that already have entered the queue - EPD maximizes the chances for already queued packets to leave the queue successfully 0 PPD - If EPD does not remove congestion and cells arriving at a queue have to be discarded because of buffer overflow PPD is applied - PPD discards all subsequent cells associated with the same packet rather than just a few cells within the packet during buffer overflow - PPD minimizes the number of packets becoming invalid in the queue CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 37

38 12/23/22 12:20 Packet Discarding (concluded) Source: Newbridge White Paper CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 38

39 12/23/22 12:20 References W. Stalling, Local and Metropolitan Area Networks, 6th edition, Prentice Hall, 2000, Chapter 11 W. Stalling, Data and Computer Communications, 6th edition, Prentice Hall, 2002, Chapters 11-12 A. Wu, Advanced Local Area Networks, Lectures & Slides, Rivier College, 2001. CS575 ATM Technology: Traffic Managem ent 39