Vessel : a lightweight container for network analysis

Abstract

TCP adaptation and retransmission strategies provide robust advantages by abstracting the development of applications on the Internet from the development of lower layers. However, the abstraction hides useful low-level information from researchers and administrators who could otherwise use the insights from the performance of TCP and lower layers to diagnose problems and improve TCP performance. Though common tools exist for manual analysis of TCP performance, some of these tools are outdated or arduous to easily use. The primary contribution of this thesis is Vessel, a tool to supplement existing tools with per-connection instrumentation, improving the ability to perform network analysis tests while providing sufficiently detailed information to identify differences with different tests. Vessel leverages the Extended Berkeley Packet Filter and Linux network namespaces. We demonstrate the utility of the tool by analyzing TCP flows associated with competing web-based speed measurement tests