Analysis of DCTCP: stability, convergence, and fairness

Cloud computing, social networking and information networks (for search, news feeds, etc) are driving interest in the deployment of large data centers. TCP is the dominant Layer 3 transport protocol in these networks. However, the operating conditions—very high bandwidth links, low round-trip times, small-buffered switches—and traffic patterns cause TCP to perform very poorly. The Data Center TCP (DCTCP) algorithm has recently been proposed as a TCP variant for data centers and addresses these shortcomings. In this paper, we provide a mathematical analysis of DCTCP. We develop a fluid model of DCTCP and use it to analyze the throughput and delay performance of the algorithm, as a function of the design parameters and of network conditions like link speeds, round-trip times and the number of active flows. Unlike fluid model representations of standard congestion control loops, the DCTCP fluid model exhibits limit cycle behavior. Therefore, it is not amenable to analysis by lin...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2011
• Where: SIGMETRICS
• Authors: Mohammad Alizadeh, Adel Javanmard, Balaji Prabhakar
• Keywords: Computer Communication Networks, Convergence Rate, Discrete Time Model, Hardware, SIGMETRICS 2011