Router Buffer Sizing Revisited: The Role of the Output/Input Capacity Ratio

Speaker: Prof. C. Dovrolis Abstract: The issue of router buffer sizing is still open and significant. Previous work either considers open-loop traffic or only analyzes persistent TCP flows. Our work differs in two ways. First, it considers the more realistic case of non-persistent TCP flows with heavy-tailed size distribution. Second, instead of only looking at link metrics, we focus on the impact of buffer sizing on TCP performance. Through a combination of test bed experiments, simulation, and analysis, we reach the following conclusions: The output/input capacity ratio at a network link largely determines the drops exponentially with the buffer size and the optimal buffer size is close to zero. Otherwise, if the output/input capacity ratio is lower than one, the loss rate follows a power-law reduction with the buffer size and significant buffering is needed, especially with flows that are mostly in congestion-avoidance. Smaller transfers, which are mostly in slow-start, require significantly smaller buffers. We conclude by revisiting the ongoing debate on "small versus large" buffers from a new perspective.