Draft Outline for "User Guide"
DS3.3.2 Part 1, Research Network User's Guide to Performance
Editor: Main.AnnHarding
Introduction
Goals and target readership
This is a snapshot of a "living document"
Related work
BestPracticeGuide
Performance Basics
User-perceived performance
Network performance metrics
The NetworkPerformanceMetrics topic includes detailed sub-topics on individual metrics that could be included here. Some of these sub-topics need refinement, others, e.g. OneWayDelay, are presented in quite some detail. I don't consider the detailed ones as a problem, as long as users can still find what they are looking for (skipping subsections is allowed).
Systemic view of performance problems
Bandwidth, delay, throughput
"Chattiness"
First steps at investigating performance problems
Problem isolation strategies
Measurement tools
Common errors
TCP Performance Primer
TransmissionControlProtocol
WindowBasedTransmission
FlowControl: slow-start, congestion avoidance etc.
EndSystemTuning, LargeTcpWindows
TCP Performance enhancements
Window scaling, timestamps
SelectiveAcknowledgements (SACK)
ExplicitCongestionNotification (ECN)
High-performance TCP variants
HS-TCP, H-TCP, BIC, FAST etc.
Hardware considerations
CPUs
Buses and system interconnects
Network adapters
File systems and disks
Examples
Compact benchmarking host with 1 Gb/s memory-to-memory TCP throughput
High-performance file/Web server for large audiences
Internet2 "Land-Speed Record" (2004) hosts
Operating system considerations
Out-of-the box system settings and tuning
Operating-specific tuning tips and tools
Application and protocol design
Bandwidth- and delay-tolerant protocols
Performance-friendly I/O interfaces
Avoiding blocking
Conclusions and further work
– Main.SimonLeinen - 20 Apr 2005