Towards a Framework for Defining Internet Performance Metrics

The Internet's tremendous growth represents a triumph of standardization, since it is only through standardization that so many different networks using so many different designs can smoothly exchange data. The standardization of Internet measurement, however, has not matched the explosive growth of the network as a whole. Even such basic notions as how to measure the throughput or delay along an Internet path lack a standardized framework. Instead it has become increasingly difficult to diagnose problems or determine whether one is receiving promised performance. In this paper we outline how a measurement framework might be developed to support Internet diagnosis and performance evaluation. We propose terminology to use in defining standards, including the key notions of metric as the fundamental property we wish to measure, methodology as a way to attempt to measure the property, and measurement as the result of a specific application of a methodology. We develop a basic contrast be..