Measurement-Based Analysis, Modeling, and Synthesis of the Internet Delay Space

Understanding the characteristics of the Internet delay space (i.e., the all-pairs set of static round-trip propagation delays among edge networks in the Internet) is important for the design of global-scale distributed systems. For instance, algorithms used in overlay networks are often sensitive to violations of the triangle inequality and to the growth properties within the Internet delay space. Since designers of distributed systems often rely on simulation and emulation to study design alternatives, they need a realistic model of the Internet delay space. In this paper, we analyze measured delay spaces among thousands of Internet edge networks and quantify key properties that are important for distributed system design. Our analysis shows that existing delay space models do not adequately capture these important properties of the Internet delay space. Furthermore, we derive a simple model of the Internet delay space based on our analytical findings. This model preserves the relevant metrics far better than existing models, allows for a compact representation, and can be used to synthesize delay data for simulations and emulations at a scale where direct measurement and storage are impractical. We present the design of a publicly available delay space synthesizer tool called DS ² and demonstrate its effectiveness.