Title
Dynamic load balancing without packet reordering
Abstract
Dynamic load balancing is a popular recent technique that protects ISP networks from sudden congestion caused by load spikes or link failures. Dynamic load balancing protocols, however, require schemes for splitting traffic across multiple paths at a fine granularity. Current splitting schemes present a tussle between slicing granularity and packet reordering. Splitting traffic at the granularity of packets quickly and accurately assigns the desired traffic share to each path, but can reorder packets within a TCP flow, confusing TCP congestion control. Splitting traffic at the granularity of a flow avoids packet reordering but may overshoot the desired shares by up to 60% in dynamic environments, resulting in low end-to-end network goodput Contrary to popular belief, we show that one can systematically split a single flow across multiple paths without causing packet reordering. We propose FLARE, a new traffic splitting algorithm that operates on bursts of packets, carefully chosen to avoid reordering. Using a combination of analysis and trace-driven simulations, we show that FLARE attains accuracy and responsiveness comparable to packet switching without reordering packets. FLARE is simple and can be implemented with a few KB of router state
Year
DOI
Venue
2007
10.1145/1232919.1232925
Computer Communication Review
Keywords
DocType
Volume
new traffic splitting algorithm,multiple path,flow avoids packet reordering,splitting traffic,trac splitting,dynamic load balancing,flare attains accuracy,current splitting scheme,flare,fine granularity,packet reordering,traffic share,reordering packet,tcp congestion control
Journal
37
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
2
0146-4833
163
PageRank 
References 
Authors
8.50
25
4
Search Limit
100163
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Srikanth Kandula15118279.89
Dina Katabi27819453.05
Shantanu Sinha31639.18
Arthur W. Berger442026.59