A new P2P-like architecture for large scale end to end network measurement

Deploying probes easily and dynamically is very important to the success of end to end measurement systems. A P2P-like dynamic probe deployment mechanism for large scale end to end network measurement is proposed in this paper. With this mechanism, an end point entity can be easily deployed when a user joins the system to require measurement services. The end point entity plays two roles: service user and service provider, so once being active the user's computer becomes part of the end to end measurement infrastructure. Under this mechanism, the measurement infrastructure will grow easily with the increase of users performing the measurement. A new architecture for end to end network measurement with this mechanism is proposed and its prototype system, Global Internet Measurement System (GIMS), is implemented. Functional components of GIMS are described in detail. Experiment results using GIMS show that this new probe deployment mechanism is efficient and greatly facilitates the deployment of probes in large scale network measurement system.