Determining an appropriate sending rate over an underutilized network path

Determining an appropriate sending rate when beginning data transmission into a network with unknown characteristics is a fundamental issue in best-effort networks. Traditionally, the slow-start algorithm has been used to probe the network path for an appropriate sending rate. This paper provides an initial exploration of the efficacy of an alternate scheme called Quick-Start, which is designed to allow transport protocols to explicitly request permission from the routers along a network path to send at a higher rate than allowed by slow-start. Routers may approve, reject or reduce a sender’s requested rate. Quick-Start is not a general purpose congestion control mechanism, but rather an anti-congestion control scheme; Quick-Start does not detect or respond to congestion, but instead, when successful, gets permission to send at a high sending rate on an underutilized path. Before deploying QuickStart there are many questions that need to be answered. However, before tackling all th...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2007
• Where: CN
• Authors: Pasi Sarolahti, Mark Allman, Sally Floyd
• Keywords: Appropriate Sending Rate, CN 2007, Network Path, Transport Protocols