Overview 2005

The objective of the End-to-End Performance Initiative (E2Epi) is to create a predictable and well-supported environment in which Internet2 campus network users have routinely successful experiences in their development and use of advanced Internet applications by improving performance problem detection and resolution throughout networking infrastructures. As James D. Bruce (Former Vice President for Information Systems, MIT) in his article from "Beyond Bandwidth" (EDUCAUSE Review, January/February 2003) states:

“In the ideal world, network users would have a tool that could tell a user where a problem is, what type of problem it is, and the person to contact for the resolution of the problem.”

A major undertaking for E2Epi in 2005 is to establish just such a performance measurement infrastructure; E2Epi is developing a distributed, scalable system to monitor, test, and report end-to-end performance. The system, called the Performance Improvement Performance Evaluation System (piPEs), will be able to indicate performance capabilities and locate problems along the path between two computers connected by a backbone network, participating campuses, regional networks, and gigaPoPs. When piPEs is fully deployed, this will significantly improve the opportunity for advanced Internet applications to operate at peak performance, which, in turn, advances the productivity of academic researchers.

A battery of regularly scheduled active tests provides information on loss, jitter, throughput, and one-way latency data. If the necessary data is not included in the database, a test can be scheduled on demand. The piPEs analyzes the resultant data, identifies a node or link, assembles the test results leading to that conclusion, matches the node or link with the contact information in a system database, and sends the result back to the end-user.

This gives the end-user the ability to contact the individual responsible for the particular system causing the performance problem and provide that person with data to convince a network administrator that it is his/her problem! At this time, piPEs has four goals:

Enable end-users and network operators to d etermine E2E performance capabilities, locate E2E problems, and contact the right person to get an E2E problem resolved.
Enable remote initiation of partial path performance tests.
Make partial path performance data publicly available.
Be interoperable with other performance measurement frameworks.

The aim of this system is to reduce the “signal to noise ratio.” NOTE: The piPEs described above is the final product; at this time, work on the project is focusing on the database, web-based display engine, the analysis engine, and performance measurement points. The regularly scheduled tests include latency (OWAMP), bandwidth (BWCTL), and traceroute.

The initial deployment, which includes the Abilene backbone network (data available via the Abilene Observatory) and a few campuses, has been demonstrated at several workshops, including: TIP 2004, GNEW 2004, the Transatlantic Performance Monitoring Workshop, and the CANARIE-GEANT-Internet2 Lightpath Workshop. These demonstrations have included transcontinental, transpacific, and transatlantic paths; they have also demonstrated the ability of other tools to use the data provided by piPEs – both NLANR’s The Performance Advisor and the HENP-funded MonALISA project are able to display data collected by piPEs.

Other E2Epi Efforts

The E2Epi is developing systems for gathering and disseminating information such as campus best practices guides, troubleshooting tips, and case studies of known problems and solutions.
Work on tools used by piPES (such as H.323 Beacon, a joint effort between OARnet and Internet2; BWCTL, a bandwidth control scheduling daemon; and OWAMP, a one-way latency measurement tool developed by Internet2's engineering group) continue.
A Performance Measurement Workshop (in conjunction with the February Joint Techs Workshop in Miami) brought together those in the research and education community working on performance measurement to discuss data collection, analysis, and storage issues.
A Performance Measurement Architecture Workshop (hosted at the Cal-ITEC, SDSC) brought together researchers in measurement frameworks and tools to discuss development of a common framework or a roadmap for research that needs to be done.
A Network Performance Workshop (hosted at GA Tech) is the first of a series of hands on workshops in conjunction with GigaPoPs to get campuses and their networking neighbors to begin regular performance testing between them.
The E2Epi continues to be involved with the High Energy Nuclear Physics (HENP) Working Group, the Global Grid Forum (GGF), and the Measurement Special Interest Group (SIG); members from each of these communities are represented on the E2Epi Technical Advisory Group (TAG). Members of the E2Epi team made presentations to these groups at the 2004 Member Meetings as well as at the two Joint Techs Workshops.
We have been actively collaborating with SLAC, ITEC-Ohio, ITEC-North Carolina, the Visible Human Project, OARnet, Ixia, Microsoft, NLANR/DAST, and NLANR/MOAT, among others. The E2Epi TAG includes representatives from many of these organizations as well as from the Universities of Washington and Oregon, and City University, London; Argonne National Laboratory; and NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory.