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Measuring Burstiness in Data Center Applications

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

Type

Conference Object

Change log

Authors

Jackson, Woodruff 
Moore, Andrew W 

Abstract

Buffer sizing is a tricky task --- it depends on a large number of variables, ranging from congestion control to traffic engineering. Still, the most unpredictable contributors are the workloads running in the network. The link utilization and burstiness of these workloads dictate the buffer depth needed by a switch. But what is a burst? Do traditional definitions still apply in the age in which switches transfer terabits of data and billions of packets every second? Unless we assess bursts correctly, we are unlikely to size buffers appropriately. In this work, we present a measurement-led evaluation of the burstiness of different data center applications. We address the question of ``what is a burst?'' and assert that common techniques cannot answer this question in modern data centers. We quantify the change in burstiness of the studied applications across multiple vectors, including latency and network perspective, and generalize our results to the common case. Our observations can inform future buffer sizing efforts and guide switch configurations. Our dataset is openly available for the benefit of the community.

Description

Keywords

Network, Buffer sizing, Measurements, Bursts

Journal Title

BS '19: Proceedings of the 2019 Workshop on Buffer Sizing

Conference Name

Workshop on Buffer Sizing

Journal ISSN

2153-1633

Volume Title

Publisher

ACM

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Leverhulme Trust (ECF-2016-289)
Isaac Newton Trust (1608(as))
Leverhulme Trust Isaac Newton Trust