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Sizing router buffers (redux)

Published: 08 November 2019 Publication History

Abstract

The queueing delay faced by a packet is arguably the largest source of uncertainty during its journey. It therefore seems crucial that we understand how big the buffers should be in Internet routers. Our 2004 Sigcomm paper revisited the existing rule of thumb that a buffer should hold one bandwidth-delay product of packets. We claimed that for long-lived TCP flows, it could be reduced by √N, where N is the number of active flows, potentially reducing the required buffers by well over 90% in Internet backbone routers. One might reasonably expect that such a result, which supports cheaper routers with smaller buffers, would be embraced by the ISP community. In this paper we revisit the result 15 years later, and explain where it has succeeded and failed to affect how buffers are sized.

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    Published In

    cover image ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review
    ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review  Volume 49, Issue 5
    October 2019
    114 pages
    ISSN:0146-4833
    DOI:10.1145/3371934
    Issue’s Table of Contents

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    Association for Computing Machinery

    New York, NY, United States

    Publication History

    Published: 08 November 2019
    Published in SIGCOMM-CCR Volume 49, Issue 5

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    Author Tags

    1. buffer sizing
    2. router
    3. switch ASIC

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    • (2024)Application Prioritization Engine for Enhancing Real-Time Performance in SmartphonesIEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management10.1109/TNSM.2023.329170621:1(773-788)Online publication date: 1-Feb-2024
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