QoSPlan: A measurement based quality of service aware network planning framework

In this article we present QoSPlan - a measurement based framework for preparing information relevant to Quality of Service (QoS)-aware IP network planning, which aims at reducing a core operational expenditure for the network operator. QoSPlan is designed to reduce the cost of deployment and maintenance of network monitoring systems. The process involves analysis of pre-existing accounting data to estimate a network-wide traffic matrix. Part of this estimation process relates to the generalization of QoS-related effective bandwidth coefficients taken from traffic analyzed on the network. We offer recommendations on how to appropriately realize QoSPlan to maximize its accuracy and effectiveness when applied to different network traffic scenarios. This is achieved through a thorough sensitivity analysis of the methods proposed using real traffic scenarios and indicative network topologies. We also provide an economic analysis of the deployment and maintenance costs associated with QoSPlan in comparison to a direct measurement approach, demonstrating cost savings of up to 60 % given different topology sizes.