Tracing Internet Path Transparency

Abstract

In this paper we present a new feature of PATH- spider that integrates tracebox-based functionality and analysis to not only detect intransparency but also further locate the origin of the impairment observed. As an example study we show updated and extended measurements on ECN support and connectivity. By using our enhanced ECN PATHspider plugin to test network support of the ECN IP codepoint and additional path tracing that is correlated with DSCP testing, we show that most in-network ECN IP codepoint zeroing is due to use of the deprecated definition of the IP ToS field for domain-internal service differentiation, while pure resetting of the ECN IP field is more likely an active inference in border networks.

Publication
In proceedings of the 2018 Traffic Measurement and Analysis Conference, Vienna.