Making Greed Work in Networks: A Game-Theoretic Analysis of Switch Service Disciplines

This paper discusses congestion control from a game-theoretic perspective. There are two basic premises: (1) users are assumed to be independent and sel sh, and (2) central administrative control is exercised only at the network switches. The operating points resulting from sel sh user behavior depend crucially on the service disciplines implemented in network switches. This e ect is investigated in a simple model consisting of a single exponential server shared by many Poisson sources. We discuss the extent to which one can guarantee, through the choice of switch service disciplines, that these sel sh operating points will be e cient and fair. We also discuss to what extent the choice of switch service disciplines can ensure that these sel sh operating points are unique and are easily and rapidly accessible by simple self-optimization techniques. We show that no service discipline can guarantee optimal e ciency. As for the other properties, we show that the traditional FIFO service d...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1994
• Where: SIGCOMM
• Authors: Scott Shenker
• Keywords: Communications, Sel Sh, Service Discipline, Sh Operating Points, SIGCOMM 1994