Server-Centric View of Internet Performance: Analysis and Implications

In this paper, we present a study of wide-area Internet performance as observed from a busy Internet server site. We explore the question of predicting the network performance that a client would observe based on topological metrics and past performance data. Specifically, we seek to answer the following questions: (a) can network performance for a client be predicted based on past performance for “nearby” clients?, (b) how well does performance correlate with topological metrics such as router hop count or AS hop count?, and (c) is it possible to identify sections of the network (e.g., congested links) that significantly impact network performance for downstream clients? We discuss the implications of our findings on wide-area server selection and performance prediction.