Grid Network Dimensioning by Modeling the Deadline Constrained Bulk Data Transfers

Grid applications need to move large amounts of data between distributed resources within deterministic timeframes. In most cases it is possible to specify the volume and the deadline in advance. We formally define and analyze a mechanism of network reservations of bulk data transfer requests having opportunistic utilization of residual network capacity and analyze it using an M/M/1/N-RPS queue. We compare the analytical results of our mechanism with the analytical results obtained from an M/M/N/N queue, for the case in which there is no opportunistic sharing of residual capacity. We validate the analytical results through simulations in C++. The analytical model is also validated against ns-2 simulations taking into account network level details (IP and TCP protocols), showing remarkably good coherence even under heavy loads. The model is orders of magnitude faster than simulation, which enables its application for capacity planning of Grid networks (also known as network dimensioning), and to enforce connection admission control (CAC) under the practical hypothesis of a dominating bottleneck on the transfer route.