RFC 2678 (rfc2678) - Page 1 of 10

IPPM Metrics for Measuring Connectivity

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Network Working Group                                        J. Mahdavi
Request for Comments: 2678             Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
Obsoletes: 2498                                               V. Paxson
Category: Standards Track         Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
                                                         September 1999


                IPPM Metrics for Measuring Connectivity

Status of this Memo

   This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
   and status of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999).  All Rights Reserved.

1. Introduction

   Connectivity is the basic stuff from which the Internet is made.
   Therefore, metrics determining whether pairs of hosts (IP addresses)
   can reach each other must form the base of a measurement suite.  We
   define several such metrics, some of which serve mainly as building
   blocks for the others.

   This memo defines a series of metrics for connectivity between a pair
   of Internet hosts.  It builds on notions introduced and discussed in
   RFC 2330, the IPPM framework document.  The reader is assumed to be
   familiar with that document.

   The structure of the memo is as follows:

 +    An analytic metric, called Type-P-Instantaneous-Unidirectional-
      Connectivity, will be introduced to define one-way connectivity at
      one moment in time.
 +    Using this metric, another analytic metric, called Type-P-
      Instantaneous-Bidirectional-Connectivity, will be introduced to
      define two-way connectivity at one moment in time.
 +    Using these metrics, corresponding one- and two-way analytic
      metrics are defined for connectivity over an interval of time.







Mahdavi & Paxson            Standards Track
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