RFC 2498 (rfc2498) - Page 1 of 10
IPPM Metrics for Measuring Connectivity
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group J. Mahdavi
Request for Comments: 2498 Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
Category: Experimental V. Paxson
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
January 1999
IPPM Metrics for Measuring Connectivity
Status of this Memo
This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.
Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested.
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 Experimental