Measuring the Contributions of Routing Dynamics to Prolonged End-to-End Internet Path Failures

This paper studies the contributions of routing dynamics to the duration of long-lived end-to-end Internet path failures. Studies have shown that end-to-end Internet failures (periods of prolonged packet loss) are widespread. These failures are typically attributed to either congestion or routing dynamics. Unfortunately, the extent to which congestion and routing dynamics contribute to long-lasting path failures, and the effect of routing dynamics on end-to-end performance, are not well understood. This paper uses a joint analysis of active measurements and routing data to characterize end-to-end failures observed over one month on a topologically diverse Internet testbed. The authors find that routing dynamics coincide with most prolonged end-to-end failures, suggesting that routing dynamics contribute significantly to the duration of these failures.