Managing the Bursty Nature of Packet Traffic using the BPTraSha Algorithm

The rapid development of network technologies has widened the scope of Internet applications and, in turn, increased both Internet traffic and the need for its accurate measurement, modelling and control. Various researchers have reported that traffic measurements demonstrate considerable burstiness on several time scales, with properties of self-similarity. The self-similar nature of this data traffic may exhibit spikiness and burstiness on large scales with such behaviour being caused by strong dependence characteristics in data: that is, large values tend to come in clusters and clusters of clusters and so on. Several studies have shown that TCP, the dominant network (Internet) transport protocol, contributes to the propagation of self-similarity. Bursty traffic can affect the Quality of Service of all traffic on the network by introducing inconsistent latency. It is easier to manage the workloads under less bursty (i.e. smoother) conditions. In this paper, we examine the use of a novel algorithm, the Bursty Packet Traffic Shaper (BPTraSha), for traffic shaping, which can smooth out the traffic burstiness. Experimental results show that this approach allows significant traffic control by smoothing the incoming traffic. BPTraSha can be implemented on the distribution router buffer so that the traffic’s bursty nature can be modified before it is transmitted over the core network. This paper continues the work of Rezaul and Grout (2007a).