Prophet: Toward Fast, Error-Tolerant Model-Based Throughput Prediction for Reactive Flows in DC Networks

Abstract

As modern network applications ( e.g. , large data analytics) become more distributed and can conduct application-layer traffic adaptation, they demand better network visibility to better orchestrate their data flows. As a result, the ability to predict the available bandwidth for a set of flows has become a fundamental requirement of today’s networking systems. While there are previous studies addressing the case of non-reactive flows, the prediction for reactive flows , e.g. , flows managed by TCP congestion control algorithms, still remains an open problem. In this paper, we take the first step to solving this problem in a data center network. To address both theoretical and practical challenges, we introduce a novel learning-based prediction system based on the NUM model, with two key techniques named fast factor learning (FFL) and efficient flow sampling . We adopt novel techniques to overcome practical concerns such as scalability, convergence and unknown system parameters. A system, Prophet, is proposed leveraging the emerging technologies of Software Defined Networking (SDN) to realize the model. Evaluations demonstrate that our solution achieves significant accuracy in a wide range of settings.