A Model for Self-Similar Ethernet LAN Traffic: Design, Implementation, and Performance Implications.

Y. Chen, Z. Deng, and C. L. Williamson. Proceedings of the 1995 Summer Computer Simulation Conference (SCSC'95), Ottawa, Ontario, pp. 831-837, July 1995.

Abstract: This paper presents a synthetic workload model that is capable of modeling self-similar Ethernet traffic. The design of the model is presented, along with a brief description of its implementation in SimKit, a C++ based simulation interface to support efficient parallel simulation on Shared Memory TimeWarp (SMTW).

Preliminary simulation results are presented comparing the cell loss and cell delay performance in a simulated ATM network, both with and without the presence of self-similar traffic. Results suggest that simple Poisson traffic models, as opposed to self-similar traffic models, may underestimate ATM cell loss by several orders of magnitude, depending on the network utilization. Self-similar traffic models thus provide a valuable tool for "worst-case" stress testing of ATM networks.

Keywords: Network, Model Design, Validation, Performance Analysis, Telecommunications.