Multipath TCP                                              Ramin Khalili
INTERNET-DRAFT                                          T-Labs/TU-Berlin
Intended Status: Standard Track                             Nicolas Gast
Expires: January 16, 2014                               Miroslav Popovic
                                                     Jean-Yves Le Boudec
                                                               EPFL-LCA2
                                                           July 15, 2013



<Opportunistic Linked-Increases Congestion Control Algorithm for MPTCP>
               draft-khalili-mptcp-congestion-control-01


Abstract

   This document describes the mechanism of OLIA, the "opportunistic
   linked increases algorithm". OLIA is a congestion control algorithm
   for MPTCP. The current congestion control algorithm of MPTCP, LIA,
   forces a tradeoff between optimal congestion balancing and
   responsiveness. OLIA's design departs from this tradeoff and provide
   these properties simultaneously. Hence, it solves the identified
   performance problems with LIA while retaining non-flappiness and
   responsiveness behavior of LIA [5] and [9].

Status of this Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted to IETF in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

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Copyright and License Notice

   Copyright (c) 2013 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors. All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
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   described in the Simplified BSD License.



Table of Contents

   1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
     1.1 Requirements Language  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
     1.2 Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
   2 The set of best paths and paths with maximum windows . . . . . .  5
   3 Opportunistic Linked-Increases Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   4 Practical considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   5 Discussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
   6 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     6.1 Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     6.2 Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11





















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1 Introduction

   The current MPTCP implementation uses a congestion control algorithm
   called LIA, the "Linked-Increases" algorithm [4]. However, MPTCP with
   LIA suffers from important performance issues (see [5] and [6]): in
   some scenarios upgrading TCP users to MPTCP can result in a
   significant drop in the aggregate throughput in the network without
   any benefit for anybody. We also show in [5] that MPTCP users could
   be excessively aggressive toward TCP users.

   The design of LIA forces a tradeoff between optimal congestion
   balancing and responsiveness. Hence, to provide good responsiveness,
   LIA's current implementation must depart from optimal congestion
   balancing that leads to the identified problems. In this draft, we
   introduce OLIA, the "opportunistic linked increases algorithm", as an
   alternative to LIA. Contrary to LIA, OLIA's design is not based on a
   trade-off between responsiveness and optimal congestion balancing; it
   can provide both simultaneously.

   Similarly to LIA, OLIA couples the additive increases and uses
   unmodified TCP behavior in the case of a loss. The difference between
   LIA and OLIA is in the increase part. OLIA's increase part, Equation
   (1), has two terms:

    - The first term is an adaptation of the increase term of Kelly and
    Voice's algorithm [8]. This term is essential to provide optimal
    resource pooling.

    - The second term guarantees responsiveness and non-flappiness of
    OLIA. By measuring the number of transmitted bytes since the last
    loss, it reacts to events within the current window and adapts to
    changes faster than the first term.

   By adapting the window increases as a function of RTTs, OLIA also
   compensates for different RTTs. As OLIA is rooted on the optimal
   algorithm of [8], it provides fairness and optimal congestion
   balancing. Because of the second term, it is responsive and non-
   flappy.

   OLIA is implemented in the Linux kernel and is now a part of MPTCP's
   implementation. In [5], we study the performance of MPTCP with OLIA
   over a testbed, by simulations and by theoretical analysis. We prove
   theoretically that OLIA is Pareto-optimal and that it satisfies the
   design goals of MPTCP described in [4]. Hence, it can provide optimal
   congestion balancing and fairness in the network. Our measurements
   and simulations indicate that MPTCP with OLIA is as responsive and
   non-flappy as MPTCP with LIA and that it solves the identified
   problems with LIA. A recent study by Chen et al. [9] shows that MPTCP



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   with OLIA always outperforms MPTCP with LIA in wireless networks and
   is very responsive to the changes in the environment.

   The rest of the document provides a description of OLIA. For an
   analysis of its performance, we refer to [5].

1.1 Requirements Language

   The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
   "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
   document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [1].

1.2 Terminology

   Regular TCP: The standard version of TCP that operates between a
   single pair of IP addresses and ports [2].

   Multipath TCP:  A modified version of the regular TCP that allows a
   user to spread its traffic across multiple paths.

   MPTCP: The proposal for multipath TCP specified in [3].

   LIA: The Linked-Increases Algorithm of MPTCP (the congestion control
   of MPTCP) [4].

   OLIA: The Opportunistic Linked-Increases Algorithm for MPTCP proposed
   in [5].

   best_paths: The set of paths that are presumably the best paths for
   the MPTCP connection.

   max_w_paths: The set of paths with largest congestion windows.

   collected_paths: The set of paths that are presumably the best paths
   but do not have largest congestion window (i.e. the paths of
   best_paths that are not in max_w_paths).

   rtt_r: The Round-Trip Time on a path r.

   MSS_r: The Maximum Segment Size that specifies the largest amount of
   data can be transmitted by a TCP packet on the path r.










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2 The set of best paths and paths with maximum windows

   A MPTCP connection has access to one or more paths. Let r be one of
   these paths. We denote by l_{1r} the number of bytes that were
   successfully transmitted over path r between the last two losses seen
   on r, and by l_{2r} the number of bytes that are successfully
   transmitted over r after the last loss. We denote by
   l_r=max{l_{1r},l_{2r}} the smoothed estimation of number of bytes
   transmitted on path r between last two losses.

   l_{1r} and l_{2r} can be measured by using information that is
   already available to a regular TCP user:

    - For each ACK on r: l_{2r} <- l_{2r} + (number of bytes that are
    acknowledged by ACK),

    - For each loss on r: l_{1r} <- l_{2r} and l_{2r} <- 0.

   l_{1r} and l_{2r} are initially set to zero when the connection is
   established. If no losses have been observed on r until now, then
   l_{1r}=0 and l_{2r} is the total number of bytes transmitted on r.

   Let rtt_r be the round-trip time observed on path r (e.g. the
   smoothed round-trip time used by regular TCP). We denote by
   best_paths the set of paths r that have the maximum value of
   l_r*l_r/rtt_r and by max_w_paths the set of paths with largest
   congestion window. Also, let collected_paths be the set of paths that
   are in best_paths but not in max_w_paths. Note that l_{1r}, l_{2r},
   l_r, best_paths, max_w_paths and collected_paths are all functions of
   time.

   best_paths represents the set of paths that are presumably the best
   paths for the user: 1/l_r can be considered as an estimate of byte
   loss probability on path r, and hence the rate that path r can
   provide to a TCP user can be estimated by (2*l_r)^{1/2}/rtt_r.
   collected_paths is the set of "collected" paths: the paths that are
   presumably the best paths for the user but that are not yet fully
   used.













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3 Opportunistic Linked-Increases Algorithm

   In this section, we introduce OLIA. OLIA is a window-based
   congestion-control algorithm. It couples the increase of congestion
   windows and uses unmodified TCP behavior in the case of a loss. OLIA
   is an alternative for LIA, the current congestion control algorithm
   of MPTCP.

   The algorithm only applies to the increase part of the congestion
   avoidance phase. The fast retransmit and fast recovery algorithms, as
   well as the multiplicative decrease of the congestion avoidance
   phase, are the same as in TCP [2]. We also use a similar slow start
   algorithm as in TCP, with the modification that we set the ssthresh
   (slow start threshold) to be 1 MSS if multiple paths are established.
   In the case of a single path flow, we use the same minimum ssthresh
   as in TCP (i.e. 2 MSS). The purpose of this modification is to avoid
   transmitting unnecessary traffic over congested paths when multiple
   paths are available to a user.

   For a path r, we denote by w_r the congestion windows on this path
   (also called subflow). We denote by MSS_r be the maximum segment size
   on the path r. We assume that w_r is maintained in bytes.

   Our proposed "Opportunistic Linked-Increases Algorithm" (OLIA) must:

    - For each ACK on path r, increase w_r by

                       w_r/rtt_r^2         alpha_r
               ( ---------------------  +  --------- )    (1)
                  (SUM (w_p/rtt_p))^2        w_r

    multiplied by MSS_r * bytes_acked.

   The summation in the denominator of the first term is over all the
   paths available to the user.

   alpha_r is calculated as follows:

    - If r is in collected_paths, then
                                 1/number_of_paths
                     alpha_r = --------------------
                                 |collected_paths|

    - If r is in max_w_paths and if collected_paths is not empty, then

                                 1/number_of_paths
                     alpha_r = - -----------------
                                   |max_w_paths|



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    - Otherwise, alpha_r=0.

   |collected_paths| and |max_w_paths| are the number of paths in
   collected_paths and in max_w_paths. Note that the sum of all alpha_r
   is equal to 0.

   The first term in (1) is an adaptation of Kelly and Voice's increase
   term [8] and provides the optimal  resource pooling (Kelly and
   Voice's algorithm is based on scalable TCP; the first term in (1) is
   a TCP compatible version of their algorithm that compensates also for
   different RTTs). The second term, with alpha_r, guarantees
   responsiveness and non-flappiness of our algorithm.

   By definition of alpha_r, if all the best paths have the largest
   window size, then alpha_r=0 for any r. This is because we already use
   the capacity available to the user by using all the best path.

   If there is any best path with a small window size, i.e. if
   collected_paths is not empty, then alpha_r is positive for all r in
   collected_paths and negative for all r in max_w_paths. Hence, our
   algorithm increases windows faster on the paths that are presumably
   best but that have small windows. The increase will be slower on the
   paths with maximum windows. In this case, OLIA re-forwards traffic
   from fully used paths (i.e. paths in max_w_paths) to paths that have
   free capacity available to the users (i.e. paths in collected_paths).

   In [4], three goals have been proposed for the design of a practical
   multipath congestion control algorithm : (1) Improve throughput: a
   multipath TCP user should perform at least as well as a TCP user that
   uses the best path available to it. (2) Do no harm: a multipath TCP
   user should never take up more capacity from any of its paths than a
   TCP user. And (3) balance congestion: a multipath TCP algorithm
   should balance congestion in the network, subject to meeting the
   first two goals.

   Our theoretical results in [5] show that OLIA fully satisfies these
   three goals. LIA, however, fails to fully satisfy the goal (3) as
   discussed in [4] and [5]. Moreover, in [5], we show through
   measurements and by simulation that our algorithm is as responsive
   and non-flappy as LIA and that it can solve the identified problems
   with LIA. In [9], Chen et al. study how MPTCP with LIA and OLIA
   performs in the wild with a common wireless environment, namely using
   both WiFi and Cellular simultaneously. Their results show that MPTCP
   with OLIA is very responsive to the changes in the environment and
   always outperforms MPTCP with LIA.






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4 Practical considerations

   Calculation of alpha requires performing costly floating point
   operation whenever an ACK received over path r. In practice, however,
   we can integrate calculation of alpha and Equation (1) together. Our
   algorithm can be therefore simplified as the following.

   For each ACK on the path r:

    - If r is in collected_paths, increase w_r by

         w_r/rtt_r^2                          1
     -------------------    +     -----------------------       (2)
    (SUM (w_p/rtt_p))^2    w_r * number_of_paths * |collected_paths|

    multiplied by MSS_r * bytes_acked.


    - If r is in max_w_paths and if collected_paths is not empty,
    increase w_r by

          w_r/rtt_r^2                         1
     --------------------    -     ------------------------     (3)
     (SUM (w_r/rtt_r))^2     w_r * number_of_paths * |max_w_paths|

    multiplied by MSS_r * bytes_acked.

    - Otherwise, increase w_r by

                           (w_r/rtt_r^2)
                   ----------------------------------           (4)
                          (SUM (w_r/rtt_r))^2

    multiplied by MSS_r * bytes_acked.

   Therefore, to compute the increase, we only need to determine the
   sets collected_paths and max_w_paths when an ACK is received on the
   path r. We can further simplify the algorithm by updating the sets
   collected_paths and max_w_paths only once per round-trip time or
   whenever there is a drop on the path.

   We can see from above that in some cases (i.e. when r is max_w_paths
   and collected_paths is not empty) the increase could be negative.
   This is a property of our algorithm as in this case OLIA re-forwards
   traffic from paths in max_w_paths to paths in collected_paths. It is
   easy to show that using our algorithm, w_r >= 1 for any path r.





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5 Discussion

   Our results in [5] show that the identified problems with current
   MPTCP implementation are not due to the nature of a window-based
   multipath protocol, but rather to the design of LIA. OLIA shows that
   it is possible to build an alternative to LIA that mitigates these
   problems and that is as responsive and non-flappy as LIA.

   Our proposed algorithm can provide similar resource pooling as Kelly
   and Voice's algorithm [8] and fully satisfies the design goals of
   MPTCP described in [4]. Hence, it can provide optimal congestion
   balancing and fairness in the network [5]. Moreover, it is as
   responsive and non-flappy as LIA and outperforms LIA in realistic
   scenarios such as wireless networks (refer to [5] and [9]).

   We therefore believe that mptcp working group should revisit the
   congestion control part of MPTCP and that an alternative algorithm,
   such as OLIA, should be considered.

































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6 References

6.1 Normative References

   [1]        Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
              Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

   [2]        Allman, M., Paxson, V., and E. Blanton, "TCP Congestion
              Control", RFC 5681, September 2009.

   [3]        Ford, A., Raiciu, C., Greenhalgh, A., and M. Handley,
              "Architectural Guidelines for Multipath TCP Development",
              RFC 6182, March 2011.

   [4]        Raiciu, C., Handley, M., and D. Wischik, "Coupled
              Congestion Control for Multipath Transport Protocols",
              RFC 6356, October 2011.

6.2 Informative References

   [5]        R. Khalili, N. Gast, M. Popovic, U. Upadhyay, and J.-Y. Le
              Boudec. "MPTCP is not Pareto-optimality: Performance
              issues and a possible solution", ACM CoNext 2012.

   [6]        R. Khalili, N. Gast, M. Popovic, and J.-Y. Le Boudec.
              "Performance Issues with MPTCP", draft-khalili-mptcp-
              performance-issues-02.

   [7]        M. Handly, D. Wischik, C. Raiciu, "Coupled Congestion
              Control for MPTCP", presented at 77th IETF meeting,
              Anaheim, California.
              <http://www.ietf.org/proceedings/77/slides/mptcp-9.pdf>.

   [8]        Kelly, F. and T. Voice, "Stability of end-to-end
              algorithms for joint routing and rate control", ACM
              SIGCOMM CCR vol. 35 num. 2, pp. 5-12, 2005.

   [9]        Chen Y.-C, Y.-S. Lim, R. J. Gibbens, E. M. Nahum, R.
              Khalili, and D. Towsley, "A Measurement-based Study of
              Multipath TCP Performance over Wireless Networks." UMASS
              Technical report. UM-CS-2013-018, 2013.










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Authors' Addresses


   Ramin Khalili
   T-Labs/TU-Berlin
   TEL 3, Ernst-Reuter-Platz 7
   10587 Berlin
   Germany

   Phone: +49 30 8353 58276
   EMail: ramin@net.t-labs.tu-berlin.de


   Nicolas Gast
   EPFL IC ISC LCA2
   Station 14
   CH-1015 Lausanne
   Switzerland

   Phone: +41 21 693 1254
   EMail: nicolas.gast@epfl.ch


   Miroslav Popovic
   EPFL IC ISC LCA2
   Station 14
   CH-1015 Lausanne
   Switzerland

   Phone: +41 21 693 6466
   EMail: miroslav.popovic@epfl.ch


   Jean-Yves Le Boudec
   EPFL IC ISC LCA2
   Station 14
   CH-1015 Lausanne
   Switzerland

   Phone: +41 21 693 6631
   EMail: jean-yves.leboudec@epfl.ch










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