NBD: Controlling Applications by Managing Network Characteristics

University Of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

This project investigates using controlled degradation of local area network performance to control the types of applications that can run effectively on the network. Network administrators can use the techniques developed by the project to prevent undesirable applications (peer file sharing, network games, etc.) from being run on the network merely by adjusting network performance. For example, some network games can be made intolerable by varying jitter or live audio can be disrupted by high loss rates, without impacting applications like web browsing, remote file access, or email. This technique works even if you cannot log into computers connected to the network and it is much harder for users to evade. The project will build practical tools that allow network administrators to control their networks in this manner and provide insight into how to use those tools for common cases. A major challenge for this approach is to find fundamental required network conditions that control important applications such that no attempt by programmers or users to work with the applications in the face of those degraded conditions is likely to be fruitful. The project will also investigate analytic issues of network performance, in particular the use of derivatives and integrals of common network performance metrics like bandwidth and delay. Broader Impact: This analysis will both assist in building control mechanisms for the project and generally increase the research community's understanding of network behaviors. The software and analytic tools developed by this project will be released to the research community.