RFC 2761 (rfc2761) - Page 2 of 32

Terminology for ATM Benchmarking

RFC 2761            Terminology for ATM Benchmarking       February 2000


   The BISDN model comprises four layers and two planes. This document
   addresses the interactions between these layers and how they effect
   IP and TCP throughput. A schematic of the B-ISDN model follows:

   ---------|--------------------------|-------------------------------
            |     User Plane           |       Control Plane
   ---------|--------------------------|--------------------------------
   Services |          IP              |   ILMI   |       UNI, PNNI
   ---------|--------------------------|----------|---------------------
   AAL      | AAL1, AAL2, AAL3/4, AAL5 |   AAL5   |        SAAL
   ---------|--------------------------|----------|---------------------
   ATM      |      Cell Relay          |        OAM, RM
   ---------|--------------------------|--------------------------------
            |       Convergence        |
   Physical |--------------------------|--------------------------------
            |         Media            |
   ---------|--------------------------|--------------------------------

   This document assumes that necessary services are available and
   active.  For example, IP connectivity requires SSCOP connectivity
   between signaling entities.  Further, it is assumed that the SUT has
   the ability to configure ATM addresses (via hard coded addresses,
   ILMI or PNNI neighbor discovery), has the ability to run SSCOP, and
   has the ability to perform signaled call setups (via UNI or PNNI
   signaling).  This document covers only CBR, VBR and UBR traffic
   types.  ABR will be handled in a separate document.  Finally, this
   document presents only the terminology associated with benchmarking
   IP performance over ATM; therefore, it does not represent a total
   compilation of ATM test terminology.

   The BMWG produces two major classes of documents: Benchmarking
   Terminology documents and Benchmarking Methodology documents. The
   Terminology documents present the benchmarks and other related terms.
   The Methodology documents define the procedures required to collect
   the benchmarks cited in the corresponding Terminology documents.

Existing Definitions

   RFC 1242, "Benchmarking Terminology for Network Interconnect Devices"
   should be consulted before attempting to make use of this document.
   RFC 2544, "Benchmarking Methodology for Network Interconnect Devices"
   contains discussions of a number of terms relevant to the
   benchmarking of switching devices and should be consulted.  RFC 2285,
   "Benchmarking Terminology for LAN Switching Devices" contains a
   number of terms pertaining to traffic distributions and datagram
   interarrival.  For the sake of clarity and continuity, this RFC
   adopts the template for definitions set out in Section 2 of RFC 1242.
   Definitions are indexed and grouped together in sections for ease of



Dunn & Martin                Informational