Conference Paper

# iREX: inter-domain QoS automation using economics

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... In this regard, a novel inter-domain resource exchange architecture (iREX) for the automated deployment of Internet traffic with QoS requirements has been proposed by Yahaya and Suda [88,89] and Yahaya, Harks, and Suda [90]. The iREX architecture is based on the "Posted Price Competition" economic model in which providers independently choose prices that are publicly communicated to resource consumers on a take-it-or-leave-it basis, see Abbink [1] for an introduction to this economic model. ...
... The routing of a demand along paths is fixed by establishing a contract between the source domain and all domains along the chosen paths. According to Yahaya and Suda [88,89], we assume that providers determine prices according to predefined load dependent price functions. Such prices, however, are only valid for a predefined demand size (bundle size), that is, routing flow of bundle size prompts an update of arc prices. ...
... Figure 3.1 illustrates the arc costs for demand divided into three pieces. Note that the above described single path routing for a discrete bundle size corresponds to the working mechanism of the iREX protocol as specified by Yahaya and Suda [88,89]. Given flows f 1 , . . . ...
... [4] and [5], we have shown that one of the benefits of the iREX architecture is that it increases network efficiency by deploying ID QoS policy based on the current least congested path, resulting in less network congestion and less request blocking when compared to the current SLA method. ...
... Another method to deploy E2E ID QoS policy has been suggested by the inter-domain Resource Exchange architecture (iREX) [4] [5]. iREX facilitates an ID economic market to trade ID QoS resources with three basic functionalities: 1) network resource information evaluation and dissemination, 2) network resource trading, and 3) network resource reputation score maintenance. ...
... In [4] and [5], we have shown that one of the benefits of the iREX architecture is that it increases network efficiency by deploying ID QoS policy based on the current least congested path, resulting in less network congestion and less request blocking when compared to the current SLA method. In this paper, we explore the issue of efficiency further by addressing the question " how much is congestion actually decreased when using iREX? ...
Conference Paper
Abstract, The inter-domain Resource Exchange (iREX) ar-chitecture uses economic market mechanisms to automate the deployment of end to end (E2E) inter-domain (ID) quality of service (QoS) policy among resource consumer and resource provider Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Previous simulation results have shown that iREX allows more coexisting ID policy deployments with less network congestion when compared to the existing method. In this paper we explore iREX's network load distribution efficiency limits by comparing iREX's performance to a lower bound for network congestion. We present an ana-lytical model of iREX in terms of a min-cost flow problem, and numerical results of efficiency loss between iREX simulations and derived optimal solutions based on multi-commodity flow optimization models. Our results show that for nominal to high traffic loads of 50% or more, iREX deviates a maximum of approximately 30% from the derived lower bound, while the current method deviates a maximum of 350%. Index Terms, inter-domain; QoS policy; resource allocation and management; network control by pricing; economics.
... An automated method for negotiating and deploying E2E ID QoS policy in an ad-hoc manner has been proposed by Yahaya and Suda in the inter-domain Resource Exchange architecture (iREX) [10], [11]. iREX is a fully distributed architecture that empowers Internet domains to self-manage E2E ID QoS policy by enabling an autonomic system based on economics. ...
... Precursors [10] and [11] to this paper have shown that one of the benefits of the iREX architecture is that it enables an increased number of coexisting ID QoS policies to be deployed compared to the current method while still maintaining a lower level of congestion. iREX achieves this lowering of congestion by efficiently taking advantage of unused resources along multiple routes for the same source-destination domain pair. ...
... Besides monetary cost, network congestion is also an important metric for E2E ID QoS deployment as suggested by Yahaya and Suda [10], [11]. Our goal in this section is to investigate conditions on price functions, under which the efficiency loss of iREX with respect to network congestion is bounded. ...
Article
The inter-domain resource exchange (iREX) architecture uses economic market mechanisms to automate the ad-hoc negotiation and deployment of end to end inter-domain quality of service policy among resource consumer and resource provider . In this paper, we explore iREX's network load distribution by comparing its performance to a lower bound for network congestion in two ways. We first present an analytical model of iREX in terms of an online algorithm and analyze its efficiency via competitive analysis. Our main result shows that the efficiency loss of iREX with respect to monetary cost is upper-bounded by a factor of 8 K/2 K+1, where K s the number of deployments, provided affine linear price functions are used. When the price functions are used to model congestion in the network, this result implies upper bounds on the efficiency loss of iREX with respect to network congestion. We then complement the analytical model with a numerical study using simulations.with optimal solutions derived from unsplittable and splittable multi-commodity flow optimization models. Our numerical results show that for nominal to high traffic loads of 40% or more, iREX deviates a maximum of about 20% from the lower bound, while the current method deviates a maximum of 300%.
... The problem under investigation arises, for instance, in an inter-domain Quality of Service (QoS) market, in which multiple service providers offer network resources (capacity) to enable Internet traffic with specific QoS constraints, see for example Yahaya and Suda [27] and Yahaya, Harks, and Suda [26]. In such a market, each service provider advertises prices for resources that he wants to sell. ...
... Yahaya et al. [27,26] empirically studied the performance of a greedy singlepath routing protocol for a fixed network topology. This problem was first Table 1: Lower bounds (LB) and upper bounds (UB) on the competitive ratio of any deterministic online algorithm and on Seq 2 for affine linear price functions and without time windows as discussed in Harks et al. [18]; here n is the number of commodities. ...
Article
Full-text available
We consider a multicommodity routing problem, where de- mands,are released,online and,have,to be routed,in a network,during specified time windows.,The objective,is to minimize,a time,and,load dependent,convex,cost function,of the aggregate,arc flow. First, we study the fractional routing variant. We present two online algorithms, called Seq and Seq,. We prove that for polynomial price functions with nonnegative coecients,and maximum
... We see Seq and the OnlineMCRP as a first step towards an analytical methodology for the following practical application. The problem under investigation arises in an inter-domain Quality of Service (QoS) market, where multiple service providers offer network resources (capacity) to enable Internet traffic with specific QoS constraints, see for example Yahaya and Suda [15] and Yahaya, Harks, and Suda [14]. In such a market, each service provider advertises prices for resources that he wants to sell. ...
... In the limiting case, where the bundle size tends to zero, the routing cost on an arc is given by the integral over the arc flow with respect to the corresponding price function. In [15] [14], a shortest path routing is introduced and investigated via simulations on real world networks and traffic demands. Their work provides empirical evidence for the efficiency of this working mechanism in such an inter-domain QoS market. ...
Article
We study online multicommodity routing problems in networks, in which commodities have to be routed sequentially. The flow of each commodity can be split on several paths. Arcs are equipped with load dependent price functions defining routing costs, which have to be minimized. We discuss a greedy online algorithm that routes each commodity by minimizing a convex cost function that depends on the previously routed flow. We present a competitive analysis of this algorithm showing that for affine price functions this algorithm is $$\frac{4K^{2}}{(1+K)^{2}}$$ -competitive, where K is the number of commodities. For networks with two nodes and parallel arcs, this algorithm is optimal. Without restrictions on the price functions and network, no algorithm is competitive. We then investigate a variant in which the demands have to be routed unsplittably. In this case, it is NP-hard to compute the offline optimum. The variant of the greedy algorithm that produces unsplittable flows is $$(3+2\sqrt{2})$$ -competitive, and we prove a lower bound of 2 for the competitive ratio of any deterministic online algorithm.
... This results in a Multiple sinks, multiple sources variant of the Multicommodity Minimal Cost Flow Problem, which will be discussed in Section 2.3. In more recent applications the problem is used to solve container shipment problems by Krile [12], where Yahaya and Sunda [13], [14] used it to model internet traffic routing. ...
... For example the decision of selecting local preference is very mu ch local to an ISP in order to balance its outgoing traffic (selecting the path to forward to the next ISP). On the other hand, an AS which is used less frequently is less congested and has a better chance to support QoS resources [15]. Traffic Engineering Mapper (TEM) has a repository that holds AS relationships and the hierarchy for interconnectivity between various ASs. ...
Article
Full-text available
An important objective of Internet traffic Engineering is to facilitate reliable network operations by providing proper QoS to different services through mechanisms which will enhance network integrity and achieve network survivability. Current Internet architecture is distributed in nature, interconnected by Internet Service Providers (ISPs), where a central goal of each service provider is to enhance emergent properties of their own network by providing better service qualities with strong emphasis on economic considerations. Hence, service providers aim at getting the best result based upon economic considerations and governed by their network wide policies. In this paper we present a scheme in which Autonomous System (AS) relationships are central to any policy decision imposed by individual ISPs. Based on these policy relationships, we propose a framework which is expected to match the need for better QoS, uniform Internet wide service management and contribute efficiently towards traffic engineering. This paper presents an integrated approach to traffic engineering, routing and policy mechanisms for better management of QoS over the Internet.
... Preliminary work on iREX concentrating on how economics could be used for E2E ID QoS was previously published in [31]. ...
Conference Paper
This paper introduces the inter-domain Resource Exchange (iREX) architecture for the automated deployment of fault tolerant end to end (E2E) inter-domain (ID) quality of service (QoS) policy among resource user and resource provider Internet Service Providers (ISPs). iREX uses economics and fully distributed mechanisms to empower domains to self-manage the deployment of E2E ID QoS policy. In iREX, resource user domains select and reserve ID QoS resources to form E2E ID QoS policy while resource provider domains provide information about available ID QoS resources and support the deployment of policies. iREX promotes accountability by enabling the establishment of bilateral agreements between a resource user ISP and all resource provider ISPs, and promotes congestion- avoidance by enabling a distributed resource selection process that selects the least congested ID deployment path. With iREX, domains cooperate to deploy ID QoS policy while maintaining their autonomy at all times. Simulation results show that iREX blocks fewer reservations and causes less congestion than the existing method, and that iREX is able to recover from faults.
... Bandwidth switching exchanges like Tradingcom Europe [27] are centralized services that operate similar to stock exchanges where ISPs trade excess capacity – iREX is a fully distributed architecture that can be used for similar purposes, but without the use of any centralized entity. Preliminary work on iREX was previously published in [1], work defining the initial iREX architecture was previously published in [2], and work exploring the efficiency of iREX was previously published in [3]. ...
Conference Paper
The inter-domain Resource Exchange (iREX) architecture uses economic market mechanisms to automate the deployment of end-to-end (E2E) inter-domain (ID) quality of service (QoS) policy among resource consumer and resource provider Internet Service Providers (ISPs). In iREX, each policy reservation is deployed on a single E2E ID path made up of the most "desirable" (i.e. cheapest and least congested) ISP resources. To accommodate ISPs that prefer redundancy when deploying ID QoS policy, in this paper we introduce an extension to the iREX architecture that gives an originating ISP a multi- path option (MPO) when deploying a reservation. MPO takes an initiating ISP's preference for redundancy and provides information about the available path options to achieve this preference in a distributed manner. Our simulation results show that while providing redundancy to the originating ISP using MPO does increase its resource costs in accordance to an ISP's preference, it only marginally increases overhead, and does not affect overall network performance - in fact the use of MPO lowers congestion.
... For example the decision of selecting local preference is very much local to an ISP in order to balance its outgoing traffic (selecting the path to forward packets to the next ISP). On the other hand, an AS which is used less frequently is less congested and has a better chance of providing QoS resources [5]. ...
Article
Full-text available
The study of Quality of Service (QoS) has become of great importance since the Internet is used to support a wide variety of new services and applications with its legacy structure. Current Internet architecture is based on the Best Effort (BE) model, which attempts to deliver all traffic as soon as possible within the limits of its abilities, but without any guarantee about throughput, delay, packet loss, etc. We develop a three-layer policy based architecture which can be deployed to control network resources intelligently and support QoS sensitive applications such as real-time voice and video streams along with standard applications in the Internet. In order to achieve selected QoS parameter values (e.g. loss, delay and PDV) within the bounds set through SLAs for high priority voice traffic in the Internet, we used traffic engineering techniques and policy based routing supported by Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). Use of prototype and simulations validates function-ality of our architecture.
Conference Paper
The problem of providing quality of service (QoS) in the Internet stems from the original choice of a datagram packet switching service model for the Internet protocol (IP). Since, in principle, each packet can take any path to the destination, it is impossible to provide any absolute guarantees about service. This paper presents a scheme using traffic engineering techniques and implements policy based routing supported by border gateway protocol (BGP) to achieve QoS parameters (loss, delay and jitter) values within the bound for high priority voice traffic in the Internet. Simulation using OPNET shows how such techniques can achieve the desired results.
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The Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) is an inter-Autonomous System routing protocol. It is built on experience gained with EGP as defined in RFC 904 [1] and EGP usage in the NSFNET Backbone as described in RFC 1092 [2] and RFC 1093 [3]. The primary function of a BGP speaking system is to exchange network reachability information with other BGP systems. This network reachability information includes information on the list of Autonomous Systems (ASs) that reachability information traverses. This information is sufficient to construct a graph of AS connectivity from which routing loops may be pruned and some policy decisions at the AS level may be enforced.
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