Measurement-Based Analysis, Modeling, and Synthesis of the Internet Delay Space for Large Scale Simulation

Abstract

The characteristics of packet delays among edge networks in the Internet can have a significant impact on the performance and scalability of global-scale distributed systems. Designers rely on simulation to study design alternatives for such systems at scale, which requires an appropriate model of the Internet delay space. The model must preserve the geometry and density distribution of the delay space, which are known, for instance, to influence the effectiveness of selforganization algorithms used in overlay networks. In this paper, we characterize measured delays between Internet edge networks with respect to a set of relevant metrics. We show that existing Internet models differ dramatically from measured delays relative to these metrics. Then, based on measured data, we derive a model of the Internet delay space. The model preserves the relevant metrics, allows for a compact representation, and can be used to synthesize delay data for large-scale simulations. Moreover, specific metrics of the delay space can be adjusted in a principled manner, thus allowing systems designers to study the robustness of their designs to such variations.