Performance Evaluation of Real–Time Applications over DiffServ/MPLS in IPv4/IPv6 Networks

Abstract: Over the last years, we have witnessed a rapid deployment of real-time applications on the Internet as well as many research works about Quality of Service (QoS) in particularly IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4). The inevitable exhaustion of the remaining IPv4 address pool has become progressively evident. As the evolution of Internet Protocol (IP) continues, the deployment of IPv6 QoS is underway. Today, there is limited experience in the deployment of QoS for IPv6 traffic in MPLS backbone networks in conjunction with DiffServ (Differentiated Services) support. DiffServ itself does not have the ability to control the traffic which has been taken for end-to-end path while a number of links of the path are congested. In contrast, MPLS Traffic Engineering (TE) is accomplished to control the traffic and can set up end-to-end routing path before data has been forwarded. From the evolution of IPv4 QoS solutions, we know that the integration of DiffServ and MPLS TE satisfies the guaranteed QoS requirement for real-time applications. This thesis presents a QoS performance study of real-time applications such as voice and video conferencing over DiffServ with or without MPLS TE in IPv4/IPv6 networks using Optimized Network Engineering Tool (OPNET). This thesis also studies the interaction of Expedited Forwarding (EF), Assured Forwarding (AF) traffic aggregation, link congestion, as well as the effect of various performance metrics such as packet end-to-end delay, packet delay variation, queuing delay, throughput and packet loss. The effectiveness of DiffServ and MPLS TE integration in IPv4/IPv6 network is illustrated and analyzed. The thesis shows that IPv6 experiences more delay and loss performance than their IPv4 counterparts.