Efficient Distributed Collection and Analysis of Packet Delay Data for Secure Role-Based Export and Topological Mapping

The Internet is increasingly being used for real-time communication via tools like Skype, Webex, Gtalk, etc. These tools work very badly when delay variation (queuing delay) gets large and users report evidence that current queuing delays are barely tolerable and rapidly increasing. While there are a plethora of commercial, home-rolled, open source, and university created tools, none are capable of measuring and monitoring delay variation in real- time or isolating its root cause. The goal of the proposed work is to collect data to identify delay bottlenecks, process the data to compactly represent its real-time variation, then securely exchange the results in a way that allows all the involved parties to collaboratively locate the delays root cause while not compromising their privacy or security. Making the secure, privacy- preserving dissemination of the new delay information part of the solution allows it to be easily incorporated into existing network management products. The project plan includes working with established small businesses in the network management area to integrate delay-based diagnostic information and working with linux developers to integrate the measurement points into the kernel. Our approach can be deployed at the edge (home routers, service provider edge, network appliances at edge) on either side of a networks secure boundaries. It infers path delay behavior based on a novel extraction of information collected at a single point. The goal is per-link delay information that reflects the time history of total delay through a link but also isolates the queuing delay from the intrinsic network delay. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: This approach is suitable for deployment in consumer internet modems as well as edge routers. The data can be used by network managers to detect and isolate bufferbloat, which is both a drag on productivity and a barrier to energy-saving programs like telecommuting and telepresence. The techniques can be used in the DoE networks and between networks to share data.