NetDyn Revisited: A Replicated Study of Network Dynamics

Abstract

In 1992 and 1993, a series of experiments using the NetDyn tool was run at the University of Maryland to characterize network behavior. These studies identified multiple design and implementation faults in the Internet. Since that time, there has been a wide array of changes to the Internet. During the Spring of 1996, we conducted a replication of the NetDyn experiments in order to characterize end-to-end behavior in the current environment. In this paper, we present and discuss the latest results obtained during this study. Although the network seems to be stabilizing with respect to transit times, our current results are similar to the results from past experiments. That is, networks often exhibit unexpected behavior. The data suggest that while there has been improvement, there are still problem areas that need to be addressed. (Also cross-referenced as UMIACS-TR-96-69)