Quality of Service Analysis of Ethernet Network Based on Packet Size

Abstract

Ethernet network, standardized by IEEE 802.3, is vastly installed in Local Area Network (LAN) for cheaper cost and reliability. With the emergence of cost effective and enhanced user experience needs, the Quality of Service (QoS) of the underlying Ethernet network has become a major issue. A network must provide predictable, reliable and guaranteed services. The required QoS on the network is achieved through managing the end-to-end delay, throughput, jitter, transmission rate and many other network performance parameters. The paper investigates QoS parameters based on packet size to analyze the network performance. Segmentation in packet size larger than 1500 bytes, Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) of Ethernet, is used to divide the large data into small packets. A simulation process under Riverbed modeler 17.5 initiates several scenarios of the Ethernet network to depict the QoS metrics in the Ethernet topology. For analyzing the result from the simulation process, varying sized packets are considered. Hence, the network performance results in distinct throughput, end-to-end delay, packet loss ratio, bit error rate etc. for varying packet sizes.Ethernet network is covered under IEEE 803.2 working group referring to the LAN family of network protocols. Since it is published as an official standard in 1985, several supplements have been defined to support additional network media and higher data rate compatibilities with the advancement of network technologies [1] [2]. Nowadays, Ethernet supports longer transmission distance up to 150 km which indicates the mass installation in an optical fiber network in most LAN environments. Ethernet network uses both packet and frame for the transmission using the physical and data link layer at the same time [3]. Ethernet stations communicate sending the data as packets where the Ether-Type field uses frames at the receiving station to select an appropriate protocol module by the operating system [4].Performance is the key issue for the installation of Ethernet in any LAN environment. In the field of telecommunication QoS is defined through some network parameters such as delivery rate, throughput, delay, collision probability, bandwidth efficiency, packet loss ratio, bit error rate, queuing delay, and jitter [5]. Ethernet has MTU of 1500 bytes which is much higher and potential to degrade the performance of the network [6]. However, if the packet sizes increase in the transmission, congestion occurs and probability of packet drop increases. Segmenting the larger packets to divide into smaller ones avoids congestion and impacts on QoS on the overall Ethernet network. Packet size impacts on the queuing in the switch and router's buffer during the transmission process among the Ethernet stations. This varies the packet arrival and departure rate consequently the packet processing rate [7]. When the packet size exceeds the MTU, the end-to-end packet arrival/departure delay increases [7]. Segmentation requires time and impacts on the data rate and degrades the QoS of the network....

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