Implementation and experimentation of IP rate control

This paper reports implementation and experimentation of a new IP rate control protocol proposed to alleviate congestion in the gateway of a LAN connected to external networks. Congestion is avoided by using explicit rate notification to LAN hosts via new ICMP control messages. In addition to avoiding congestion, the protocol also allows for greater fairness and priority in network traffic, while having no impact on traffic outside the local network. The implementation of the IP rate control protocol in a Linux platform is described followed by the experiments conducted at the network laboratory of Monash University. Experimental results show that IP rate control can be very effective in controlling congestion at the LAN gateway by controlling host transmission rates. IP rate control reduces queueing delay and packet loss rate at the LAN gateway.