Bulk Transfer Capacity Estimation in IPv6 Networks

Bulk transfer capacity (BTC) is a measure of the sustainable data throughput on a network path that is subject to congestion control algorithms, such as those used by the transmission control protocol (TCP). BTC is an important network performance metric because the vast majority of all traffic, typically around 95% of all packets, is conveyed by TCP. The performance of many Internet-based services is thus largely dependant on the BTC of the underlying network path. This paper proposes a novel tool, ReturnFlow6, for estimating the BTC of an IPv6 network path, conducted from a single point to a non-instrumented target. In order to verify the realistic operation of ReturnFlow6i a series of BTC measurements are conducted on a test network and a 'live' intranet. The results are presented, analyzed and compared against the output of BTC estimation techniques for IPv4, permitting the relative advantages and disadvantages of each approach to be established