Techniques That Use Bandwidth Aggregation to Increase Bandwidth - Literature review Example

BANDWIDTH AGGREGATION: STUDY AND COMPARISON OF TECHNIQUES THAT USE BANDWIDTH AGGREGATION TO INCREASE BANDWIDTH   University/College Date Abstract The demand of high speed internet and fast means of communication are fundamental requirements. One method to increase the speed of networks is discussed in the paper. The concern of paper is based on the learning about the bandwidth and bandwidth aggregation techniques. In the study, bandwidth aggregation techniques are explored to get understanding on bandwidth aggregation. Further comparison is made on the explored techniques, which are being used for bandwidth aggregation to increase bandwidth. ANDWIDTH AGGREGATION: STUDY AND COMPARISON OF TECHNIQUES THAT USE BANDWIDTH AGGREGATION TO INCREASE BANDWIDTH   Introduction Bandwidth is measured as a range of frequency given along with a specified band. The capacity of metal to carry data is also referred as Bandwidth. The amount of data carried out represents the rate of data transfer that travels in the form of bits per second (bps). It means how many bits of data are transferred within a second. The bandwidth aggregation contains useful techniques, which show positive results. There is federal support along with it as Federal Communication Commission (FCC) that strongly recommends the more research in this particular field of bandwidth aggregation. Bandwidth aggregation is defined as the summing up all available bands for maximizing the data transfer rate within a specified network. Numbers of physical links are aggregated to boost up the performance of a network that increases bandwidth. Cisco introduced a standard based on bandwidth aggregation, it is the protocol named EtherChannel that works between LAN (Local Area Network) switches [1]. Multiple modems usage is one way to achieve bandwidth aggregation and it is somehow equal to the use of broadband connection. However, this solution is not feasible for large organizations as it does not work effectively due to the huge usage of internet, where internet traffic is high. There is a possibility that among user system and internet there are several connection and summing up all can enhance the performance of bandwidth. Multilink and connection teaming are two techniques of bandwidth aggregation described in [2]. PPP (Point to Point Protocol) is extended into a new form as PPP multilink protocols (MP). Its theme is to link two or more connections to achieve the bandwidth aggregation. Scope of literature review The main focus of the literature review refers to exploration of Bandwidth aggregation techniques, methods and ways. The techniques explanation is also a part of literature review. Finally comparison table will describe the positive and negative aspects of the bandwidth aggregation techniques. There are different techniques used for bandwidth aggregation, as some of them are illustrated below. The understanding level of comprehensive explanation of bandwidth aggregation techniques is performed. Inclusion of most relevant and latest research will be part of literature review. The most literature will be gathered from the last five years in order to cover the latest techniques of bandwidth aggregation. The qualitative type of research will be performed and literature review will explain the examples for getting accurate appreciation. Current state of the research or development The latest research is being done in regard of the development of a collaborative system working for Bandwidth aggregation. Due to the high demand of data transfer for networks through mobile devices and other advanced technologies, there is strong need for the improvement in the network technology. Bandwidth aggregation techniques and systems are also part of improvement desired for fast growing networks. In the work [3] the discovery of bandwidth aggregation system called OSCAR has been briefly described. The system is based on some preset disciplines, which include: multiple-objectives, incentive-based and collaborative system for bandwidth aggregation. For OSCAR, there is no need of specified type of hardware that does not make extra changes in applications. The working procedure of OSCAR is based on the automatic method that defines approximation for the situation in which system is working. Scheduling process of OSCAR is self-motivated and defines the perfect route for itself that ultimately helps the data to travel along with best possible path for a fast communication. OSCAR works more effectively for highly increasing the throughput of the system along with the combination of multi-objective schedulers. OSCAR is excellent in cost and energy saving as well. The OSCAR system is practically evaluated on Linux system and through simulation method. Both represent the efficient results for OSCAR system designed for bandwidth aggregation. Good performance is achieved all the way through the use of OSCAR with respect to different factors like cost, energy, and system’s throughput. In future, OSCAR enabled server is expected to be developed to meet the greatest level of throughput. This idea was generated in the study as a work of future in this area. Bandwidth aggregation techniques: There exists a great range of techniques used for bandwidth aggregation. Some of them are elaborated below for making comparisons among them. The following table shows some names of bandwidth aggregation techniques. Table.1 List of Bandwidth Aggregation Techniques 1) PPP Multilink 2) Solitary Solutions 3) Collaborative Solutions 4) Multi-Homed or Multi-Interface 5) Connection-Level Scheduling 6) Port Trunking 7) Connection Teaming 8) Transparent Bandwidth Aggregation Techniques 9) R-MTP 10) Energy Efficient Bandwidth Aggregation 11) OPERETTA 12) Socket level solutions 13) Transport layer 14) Proxy server 15) MAR 16) Deployable Bandwidth Aggregation System (DBAS) 17) G-DBAS 18) MULTI 19) Application-specific bandwidth aggregation 20) Startup delay 21) Adaptive streaming 22) Quality adoption mechanism and request scheduler 23) The DAVVI streaming system 24) UDP-streams 25) TCP-streams 26) CStream 27) Scheduling algorithm 28) COMBINE 29) OSCAR 30) DASH PPP Multilink: PPP (Point to Point Protocol) is the basic protocol and its extended version is PPP Multilink Protocol (MP). This protocol aggregates the bandwidth of different internet connections and gives the accumulated bandwidth of all connections. Multilink protocol fragments the large data packets into small fragments. These fragments are again combined in the original form on receiver end. Point to Point Protocol splits the one connection into more than one connection and then recombines it in the original form on receiver end. While fragmenting the packet, multilink protocol adds packet sequence number and other information in the header of the fragment [3]. On receiving end it removes the header on each fragment and recombines according to sequence, after recombining it sends the packets to the concerned IP address. Solitary Solutions: These solutions for bandwidth aggregation are composed of different layers of protocol [4]. Many kinds of bandwidth aggregation techniques are normally designed at transport layer of OSI (Open Systems Interconnections) model. The solutions that are designed for transport layer mostly substitute the Transfer Control Protocol (TCP) layer and deal with a number of interfaces directly. In order to take actions, such kinds of techniques needs in changing some attributes on the end user’s system or may be on server or within applications. Layer based bandwidth aggregation techniques often perform proxy server communication and contain the knowledge of clients multiple interfaces. Collaborative Solutions: The method of collaboration is performed on the utilization of accessible interfaces and randomly made introverted attempts. The solutions proposed in the collaborative method contain inadequacy in general. By making more solidity in devices, this solution achieves and shares some neighbour devices as well. The main focus of collaborative solution is to increase the throughput and forget about the incentive systems, which actually facilitate as the collaborative solutions. FON commercial systems are close to the OSCAR systems except a few differences. FON systems are conceptualized as the sharing method of home broadband to the mobile users of FON. The FON users need to add the Fonera router in the network functioning in home and sharing of portion make this possible to mobile users to connect with the internet. Some important factors that need to be addressed for getting understanding about OSCAR and FON systems are given as following. FON does not work on the bandwidth aggregation concept but increases bandwidth by sharing procedure only through Fonera routers installed on home broadband. OSCAR mainly works for mobile appliances. FON users get incentive packets for FON users as they receive benefit. Multi-Homed or Multi-Interface (State-of-the-art-solutions) The solutions for bandwidth aggregation that works through multi-homed or multi interface are mostly processes of different layers of protocol. The state of the art solutions regarding bandwidth aggregation issue are presented in [4]. Layer dependent features and layer independent features are discussed in the study. Layers facing same category of goals and challenges come under the layer dependent features and vice versa for layer independent features. The use of multiple network interfaces for aggregation in bandwidth is becoming popular among researchers due to the significant results. The Wiffler systems [5] utilize the WiFi network and offload data to it when overloaded. Connection-Level Scheduling In some bandwidth aggregation techniques connection-level scheduling [4] is used because it is convenient to adopt. Different network interfaces can be used for allocation of connection. The packet distribution in compulsion belongs to same interface of the network. Main operational methods are used for applicability of connection level scheduling, which ultimately aggregate the bandwidth and respond positively in quick communication. Port Trunking: Port Trunking is the technique that is used for bandwidth aggregation in networks. This is an economical way for increasing the speed by increasing the bandwidth between two Ethernet switches. In this method of bandwidth aggregation, a port trunk of two to eight ports is created that works as a single logical path. This method increases the bandwidth between switches. Port trunk improves the performance of the network speed by distributing the network traffic between different ports among the devices. It is easy to configure the trunk in switches [6]. By creating the trunk some ports from two to eight are designated that works a trunk and management software, which is already installed on switch and results into Trunking the ports together automatically. Limitations in port Trunking: There are some limitations in port Trunking regarding vendors of the switches. The vendor of the switches should be same on sender and receiver end. If vendor will be different on one end then there are chances that port Trunking will not work efficiently because both vendors may use different algorithms and techniques. Management software for different vendors can work indifferent way. Trunk does not have backup of the link, if any port in port trunk loses its link then it cannot recover it because it does not have any link backup. In this case [7] lost link bandwidth is transferred to other port in the trunk. The lost link is re-established or a new port is added. Port Trunking Guidelines: When creating port trunk these scenarios should be kept in mind: 1. Minimum two and maximum eight ports can be added for one configuring one trunk. 2. One switch can support four trunks. 3. Any port cannot belong to more than one trunk; it belongs to only one trunk at a time. 4. Flow control settings, duplex mode and speed settings should be same in all ports of trunk. 5. All the ports of trunk should belong to same VLAN. Any port cannot belong to any other VLAN. 6. The order of the ports should match on both switches. For example if port 1 to port 4 are connected with one switch and port 5 to 8 are connected with another switch then port one should be connected with 5, port 2 should be connected with 6 and so on. Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) Trunks: Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) trunk is a type of port trunk. It speeds up the bandwidth between two network devices by distributing the traffic between different physical links. Link aggregation control protocol trunks are more flexible than static trunks. Link aggregation control protocol trunk is designed according to IEEE 802.3ad standard. Due to this any vendor or manufacture, switches can be used to create the trunk. Aggregate trunk works dynamically, it can be created, enabled, disabled and configured dynamically. As compared to static trunk as in [6] these are vendor independent. Furthermore, LACP trunk status can be changed as Active, Passive, Disabled or Manual. For the first time when trunk is created then its status is set to disabled automatically, it means that it cannot send or receive the data from network. For receiving and sending the data its status must be changed. When its status is changed to Active then all of the ports of the trunk starts sending and receiving data. One trunk can have minimum two ports and maximum eight ports so it can have minimum ports in start according to network size and other ports can be added dynamically. At a time maximum eight ports can have status as active. When its status is Passive it means that these ports are available in the active state. When link partners have more traffic then that can make these ports to active and then these ports also start sending and receiving data. Manual status works same as static trunk. Administrator of the switch needs to change the status of port manually [7]. LACP Port Priority Parameter: Using the priority parameter LACP trunk makes ports active and in standby mode. It gives the priority from 1 to 255. Lower number has a high priority. In start lowest priority numbers ports are set to active and when any port goes down then next highest priority port status is changed to an active state. For example, if both 802.3ad-compliant devices contain total eight ports in trunk and support four active ports at a time, the four ports with lowest priority status is set as active and these ports will be used for sending and receiving the data in a network. All other ports are set to standby mode. If any active port link goes down then highest priority port that is in standby mode is set as active automatically. For functioning of a port in standby mode that is member of trunk it should fulfil two conditions. According to condition one, total number of active ports in aggregate trunk should be greater than maximum allowed active ports. According to second condition, active port should receive LACPDU packets from a device. Any port that has standby status should not forward network traffic, only active ports can forward network traffic. Guidelines when Creating LACP Trunk: Link aggregation control protocol should be active on both device and switch. It should consider that switch supports how many active ports and trunks, as AT-8000/8POE switch supports eight active ports and maximum of four trunks. The medium of the ports should be of same type in an aggregate trunk, whether it should be fibre optic in both or it should be twisted pair. Different medium between ports of a trunk will create problem because every medium has different speed. Same as static trunk, in link aggregation control protocol also one port can belong to only one trunk, it cannot belong to more than one trunks. On creation of a trunk, documents helps for knowing that how many active ports can be in a switch. The maximum number of active ports will be used that on what level higher priority should be given and which switch should be used for it [7]. In [8] the increased demand of bandwidth is discussed and a spectrum aggregation technique is developed to meet the fast growing demand. The basic level overview and challenges about spectrum aggregation are discussed in the paper. The LET advanced was focused for spectrum aggregation process to enhance the bandwidth that would fulfil the user demand for fast access of internet. DOFDM spectrum aggregation technique working on physical layer of OSI model was used for network communication. The guard bandwidths among the carriers are the main concerned area of working to the spectrum aggregation. Connection Teaming: This is also a type of bandwidth aggregation, which does not bond the links. It uses the standard protocols to maintain and sets up the individual TCP/IP sessions between multiple links. Connection teaming server handles this type of aggregation of bandwidth, which requests from LAN clients and forward to the next available connection. LAN clients and browsers do not know that which link will be used for sending the data to other clients. All is handled through the Connection Teaming server. As compare to bonding technique these techniques do not split the packet or messages and never bind it on receiver end. Connection teaming server should exist on the LAN and all the users should be connected with this server [7]. When any TCP/IP session is opened then connection teaming server finds the link with lowest network traffic and assigns that session to that link. This method increases the throughput. Limitations of Connection Teaming: First limitation of the connection teaming was found as it did not split the request and then recombine it. Any person trying to download the file did not find any difference in speed. Advantages of Connection Teaming: This type of broadband aggregation can use different connection technologies. In this technique old modems can be connected with new ones and analogue modems can be connected with DSL or cable modems. This technique is effective when using concurrent TCP/IP connections. For example, if any user is downloading the file then only one link will be used and that will not affect on the speed of other links. This can open other connections on demand, for example if bandwidth of any open connection reaches to 80% then it opens a new connection and assigns the bandwidth to it. Each connection in a connection teaming behaves as independent and separates internet connection. Transparent Bandwidth Aggregation Techniques The bandwidth aggregation techniques work as transparent and boost up the bandwidth as normally performed through UDP (User Datagram Protocol) and belongs to TCP (Transfer Control Protocol). The feature of transparency is useful to perform when needed to hide it from the application level, and it can be performed on the protocol stack of layers. In [9] different categories of bandwidth aggregation techniques are elaborated. The proposed transparent technique is designed to work on the network layer for aggregation in a bandwidth. The packet transfer is performed through different multi-homed devices. The destination address is involved in it and helpful to boost up the quicker delivery. A Deployable Bandwidth Aggregation System (DBAS) proposed by Habak in [10] is based on the multi-interfaces method of bandwidth aggregation. The proposed method does not introduce the additional hardware used for making changes in the operating systems, or do modifications in socket to increase the performance. The automated method that calculates the most desired and essential factors of applications and also organizes them properly. An effective scheduling is the functioning procedure of desired Deployable Bandwidth Aggregation System (DBAS). The solution is based on the state-of-the art and provides a real world solution to the real world problem. In [11] the proposed technique focuses upon the aggregation of bandwidth through the efficiency in energy and the system OPERETTA. The optimal solution for resolving the concern of effective scheduling is addressed through the proposed technique. Table.2 Comparison among different Bandwidth Aggregation Techniques Bandwidth Aggregation Technique Features / Functionality of Technique Working Layer/ Parameters Application layer solutions [12] Multiple interfaces are necessary to implement this type of technique that aggregates the bandwidth. Application Layer Socket level solutions [12] Make changes is kernel socket to perform the functionality Application Layer Transport level solutions [13] These types of bandwidth aggregation techniques make changes are legacy servers, and substitute TCP with modified methods. Transport Layer Network layer approaches [14] Functions on network layer and update the layer according to variations required Network Layer Proxy server [14] Proxy server corresponds with end user client and knows about the available interface on user’s end. TCP MAR [15] Requires unique path to achieve optimal solution that aggregates bandwidth Dynamic Channels PPP Multilink [4] Point to point protocol works on multiple interfaces to boost up bandwidth Point to point protocol OSCAR [3] Defined automatically specific route for optimal solution. Schedule route OPERETTA [11] Energy efficient system that aggregates bandwidth Schedule based Deployable Bandwidth Aggregation System [10] Automated system that calculates the most desired path. Optimal path Summary PPP (Point to Point Protocol) Multilink breaks up packets and messages into fragments and on receiver end these are recombined together. In case of using FTP where users download the files, PPP multilink technique is effective and gives superior results [4]. If there are many LAN users and want to restrict the FTP users that try to download the files then Connection Teaming is better approach [7]. It will not affect the speed of network connection for other users. In many cases multilink support and aggregation for bandwidth is harder to achieve in such situations transparent aggregation through user and transfer control protocols are worked out to achieve the desired target of effective level of communication. The theme of perfection for bandwidth aggregation techniques is based on the efficient scheduling procedure of packets delivery and correctness in controlling the congestion. The accuracy in congestion control impacts highly in the improved performance of fast communication. The estimation made by proxy must analyze the all possible paths and accurate path should be applied for quick communication. The elaborated techniques [3], [4], [5]-[6] are defined through the qualitative method. These methods are used to describe and compare the bandwidth aggregation techniques in a descriptive form. The technical aspects are highlighted but in depth details are hidden. Conclusion The literature review is regarding about search the concepts and technologies proposed for bandwidth aggregation. The techniques for increasing bandwidth are working in different perspectives and following many kinds of unique methods. The review about techniques also highlights some challenges belonging to bandwidth aggregation. Hence it is clear and transparent that methods applied for bandwidth aggregation are highly effective and efficient in working and provide highly positive results. So, the concerned area must be research and more progress is required to improve the bandwidth aggregation techniques. Decrease in the investigated factor, which are limitations in the available bandwidth aggregation techniques in literature should be worked out properly. References [1] Informit. (2014). Trunking and Bandwidth Aggregation. Available from https://www.informit.com/library/content.aspx?b=CCNP_Studies_Switching&seqNum=22 Accessed on: 4/21/2014. [2] Vicomsoft. (2014). Bandwidth Aggregation, Bonding and Teaming. Available from http://www.vicomsoft.com/learning-center/bandwidth-aggregation-bonding-and-teaming/ Accessed on: 4/21/2014. [3] Habak, K., Harras, K.A., and Youssef, M. (2014). OSCAR: A Collaborative Bandwidth Aggregation System. Networking and Internet Architecture. Available from http://arxiv.org/pdf/1401.1258.pdf Accessed on 23/04/2014. [4] Habak, K., Harras, K.A., and Youssef, M. (2013). Bandwidth Aggregation Techniques in Heterogeneous Multi-homed Devices: A Survey. ArXiv e-prints, September 2013. [5] Balasubramanian, A., Mahajan, R., and Venkataramani,A. (2010). Augmenting mobile 3G using Wifi. In ACM MobiSys. ACM. [6] Bui, D.H., Lee, K., Oh, S., Insik Shin, I., Shiny, H., Woo, H., and Ban, D. (2013). GreenBag: Energy-efficient Bandwidth Aggregation for Real-time Streaming in Heterogeneous Mobile Wireless Networks. Department of Computer Science at KAIST. [7] Allied Telesis Inc. Port Trunking, Available from. http://alliedtelesis.com/manuals/at81v130menuwebclia/menus-port_trunking.html Accessed on 24/04/2014. [8] Wang, W., Zhaoyang Zhang, Z., and Huang, A. (2010). “Spectrum Aggregation: Overview and Challenges”. Network Protocols and Algorithms. Vol 2, No. 1 [9] Kristian R E. (2011). Aggregating the Bandwidth of Multiple Network Interfaces to Increase the Performance of Networked Applications. Doctoral Dissertation. Available from http://folk.uio.no/paalh/students/KristianEvensen-phd.pdf Accessed on 24/04/2014. [10] Habak, K., Harras, K.A., and Youssef, M. (2012a). DBAS: A Deployable Bandwidth Aggregation System. Available http://arxiv.org/abs/1201.2760v1 Accessed on 24/04/2014. [11] Habak, K., Harras, K.A., and Youssef, M. (2012b). “OPERETTA: An Optimal Energy Efficient Bandwidth Aggregation System”, Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum Proceedings: Vol. 2012, CSO7. [12] H. Sakakibara, M. Saito, and H. Tokuda.(2006). Design and implementation of a socket-level bandwidth aggregation mechanism for wireless networks. In Proceedings of the 2nd annual international workshop on Wireless internet, page 11. ACM, 2006. [13] Dong, Y. Wang, D., Pissinou, N. and Wang. J. (2007). Multi-path load balancing in transport layer. In Next Generation Internet Networks, 3rd EuroNGI Conference on, pages 135–142. IEEE, 2007. [14] Chebrolu, K. Raman, B., and Rao. R. (2005). A network layer approach to enable TCP over multiple interfaces. Wireless Networks, 11(5):637–650, 2005. [15] Rodriguez, P Chakravorty, R. Chesterfield, Pratt, I and Banerjee. S. (2004). Mar: A commuter router infrastructure for the mobile internet. In ACM MobiSys’04, page 230. Read More