HELM: Conflict-free active measurement scheduling for shared network resource management

Network resource measurement is a key functionality for large scale network management. Intelligent, network-aware applications may benefit from access to detailed representations of network resources, including multi-layer topologies and real-time traffic measurement, and shared resources may obtain better overall utilization by identifying performance bottlenecks. In this study, we describe a network measurement framework, which includes a network topology analysis mechanism as well as agent tools for running active probes and collecting data from end hosts. The system includes a centralized coordinator, which abstracts network elements into annotated network graphs and applies scheduling algorithms to calculate conflict free measurement probes over shared links. Our evaluation integrated perfSONAR services into our framework and included deployment scenarios on research and education networks such as Internet2 and ESnet. The data presented in this study offers compelling evidence that supports a method by which to measure the performance of real world networks.