The use of end-to-end multicast measurements for characterizing internal network behavior

We present a novel methodology for identifying internal network performance characteristics based on end-to-end multicast measurements. The methodology, solidly grounded on statistical estimation theory, can be used to characterize the internal loss and delay behavior of a network. Measurements on the MBone have been used to validate the approach in the case of losses. Extensive simulation experiments provide further validation of the approach, not only for losses, but also for delays. We also describe our strategy for deploying the methodology on the Internet. This includes the continued development of the National Internet Measurement Infrastructure to support RTP-based end-to-end multicast measurements and the development of software tools to analyze the traces. Once complete, this combined software/hardware infrastructure will provide a service for understanding and forecasting the performance of the Internet.