John Heidemann / Papers / Modelling the Performance of HTTP Over Several Transport Protocols

Modelling the Performance of HTTP Over Several Transport Protocols
John Heidemann, Katia Obraczka and Joe Touch
USC/Information Sciences Institute

Citation

John Heidemann, Katia Obraczka and Joe Touch. Modelling the Performance of HTTP Over Several Transport Protocols. ACM/IEEE Transactions on Networking. 5, 5 (Oct. 1997), 616–630. [PDF] [alt PDF]

Abstract

This paper considers the interaction of HTTP with several transport protocols, including TCP, Transaction TCP, a UDP-based request–response protocol, and HTTP with persistent TCP connections. We present an analytic model for each of these protocols and use that model to evaluate network overhead carrying HTTP traffic across a variety of network characteristics. This model includes a analysis of the transient affects of TCP slow-start. We validate this model by comparing it to network packet traces measured with two protocols (HTTP and persistent HTTP) over local and wide-area networks. We show that the model is accurate within 5% of measured performance for wide-area networks, but can underestimate latency when the bandwidth is high and delay is low. We use the model to compare the connection-setup costs of these protocols, bounding the possible performance improvement. We evaluate these costs for a range of network characteristics, finding that setup optimizations are relatively unimportant for current modem, ISDN, and LAN users but can provide moderate to substantial performance improvement over high-speed WANs. We also use the model to predict performance over future network characteristics.

Bibtex Citation

@article{Heidemann97b,
  author = {Heidemann, John and Obraczka, Katia and Touch, Joe},
  title = {Modelling the Performance of {HTTP} Over Several
                          Transport Protocols},
  journal = {ACM/IEEE Transactions on Networking},
  year = {1997},
  sortdate = {1997-10-01},
  project = {ant, lsam},
  jsubject = {www},
  volume = {5},
  number = {5},
  month = oct,
  pages = {616--630},
  jlocation = {johnh: folder: www/http},
  keywords = {http performance, p-http, t/tcp, ardp},
  url = {https://ant.isi.edu/%7ejohnh/PAPERS/Heidemann96a.html},
  psurl = {https://ant.isi.edu/%7ejohnh/PAPERS/Heidemann96a.ps.gz},
  pdfurl = {https://ant.isi.edu/%7ejohnh/PAPERS/Heidemann96a.pdf},
  myorganization = {USC/Information Sciences Institute},
  copyrightholder = {IEEE},
  copyrightterms = {
  	Abstracting is permitted with credit to the source.  Libraries are
  	permitted to photocopy beyond the limit of US copyright law, for
  	private use of patrons, those articles in this volume that carry a
  	code at the bottom of the first page, provided that the per-copy fee
  	indicated in the code is paid through the Copyright Clearance Center,
  	27 Congress Street, Salem, MA 01970.  For other copying, reprint, or
  	republication permission, write to IEEE Copyrights Manager, IEEE
  	Service Center, 445 Hoes Lane, PO Box 1331, Piscataway, NJ 08855--1331.
  },
  availability = {
  Papers copies must be gotten from IEEE.
  A version with slightly different formatting
    is available electronically.
  }
}

Copyright

Abstracting is permitted with credit to the source. Libraries are permitted to photocopy beyond the limit of US copyright law, for private use of patrons, those articles in this volume that carry a code at the bottom of the first page, provided that the per-copy fee indicated in the code is paid through the Copyright Clearance Center, 27 Congress Street, Salem, MA 01970. For other copying, reprint, or republication permission, write to IEEE Copyrights Manager, IEEE Service Center, 445 Hoes Lane, PO Box 1331, Piscataway, NJ 08855–1331.
Copyright © by John Heidemann