A New Approach to Dynamic Bandwidth Allocation in Quality of Service Networks: Performance and Bounds

Efficient dynamic resource provisioning algorithms are necessary to the development and automation of Quality of Service (QoS) networks. The main goal of these algorithms is to offer services that satisfy the QoS requirements of individual users while guaranteeing at the same time an efficient utilization of network resources. In this paper we introduce a new service model that provides per-flow bandwidth guarantees, where users subscribe for a guaranteed rate; moreover, the network periodically individuates unused bandwidth and proposes short-term contracts where extra-bandwidth is allocated and guaranteed exclusively to users who can exploit it to transmit at a rate higher than their subscribed rate. To implement this service model we propose a dynamic provisioning architecture for intra-domain Quality of Service networks. We develop a set of dynamic on-line bandwidth allocation algorithms that take explicitly into account traffic statistics and users’ utility functions to increase users’ benefit and network revenue. Further, we propose a mathematical formulation of the extra-bandwidth allocation problem that maximizes network revenue. The solution of this model allows to obtain an upper bound on the performance achievable by any on-line bandwidth allocation algorithm. We demonstrate through simulation in realistic network scenarios that the proposed dynamic allocation algorithms are superior to static provisioning in providing resource allocation both in terms of total accepted load and network revenue, and they approach, in several network scenarios, the ideal performance provided by the mathematical model