AuthorsR. Barik, M. Welzl, A. Elmokashfi, T. Dreibholz, S. Islam, and S. Gjessing
TitleOn the Utility of Unregulated IP DiffServ Code Point (DSCP) Usage by End Systems
AfilliationCommunication Systems
Project(s)NorNet, The Center for Resilient Networks and Applications, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, NEAT: A New, Evolutive API and Transport-Layer Architecture for the Internet, MELODIC: Multi-cloud Execution-ware for Large-scale Optimised Data-Intensive Computing
StatusPublished
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2019
JournalPerformance Evaluation
Volume135
Pagination102036
Date Published08/2019
PublisherElsevier
ISSN0166-5316
KeywordsDiffServ, DiffServ Code Point, latency, QoS, WebRTC
Abstract

DiffServ was designed to implement service provider quality of service (QoS) policies, where routers change and react upon the DiffServ Code Point (DSCP) in the IP header. However, nowadays, applications are beginning to directly set the DSCP themselves, in the hope that this will yield a more appropriate service for their respective video, audio and data streams. WebRTC is a prime example of such an application. We present measurements, for both IPv4 and IPv6, of what happens to DSCP values along Internet paths after an end system has set them without any prior agreement between a customer and a service provider. We find that the DSCP is often changed or zeroed along the path, but detrimental effects from using the DSCP are extremely rare; moreover, DSCP values sometimes remain intact (potentially having an effect on traffic) for several AS hops. This positive result motivates an analysis of the potential latency impact from such DSCP usage, for which we present the first measurement results. We find that routers at approximately 3% of more than 100,000 links differentiate between the WebRTC DSCP values (EF, AF42 and CS1) and consistently reduce delay in comparison with probes carrying a zero value (CS0) under congestion. In contrast, routers at around 2% of these links increase the delay by a comparable amount under congestion, uniformly for EF, AF42 and CS1.

URLhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.peva.2019.102036
DOI10.1016/j.peva.2019.102036
Citation Key PEVA2019

Contact person