[comp.protocols.tcp-ip] Throughput from MILNET

chabutjc@wpafb.af.mil (John Chabut) (12/12/89)

I'm sure I'm not the first to notice that even if you
have two hosts connected to PSNs at 56 kb/s, the throughput
of an FTP is down around 4 kb/s. I realize there's overhead
associated with FTP, TCP/IP, and X.25, but how much does the
MILNET affect throughput?  Can anyone refer me to studies done
of MILNET throughput? I presume it changes due to congestion
at certain times of the day, number of active PSNs, etc.

I appreciate your interest and assistance.

--John Chabut
  SAIC
  513-429-6553
  chabutjc@asd.wpafb.af.mil   OR   jcc%dayvd%dayvb@uunet.uu.net

amanda@mermaid.intercon.com (Amanda Walker) (12/14/89)

In article <137598.8912131631@asd.wpafb.af.mil>, chabutjc@wpafb.af.mil (John
Chabut) writes:
> I'm sure I'm not the first to notice that even if you
> have two hosts connected to PSNs at 56 kb/s, the throughput
> of an FTP is down around 4 kb/s.

Um, are you sure you're not mixing bits and bytes? 4K bytes per second
is 32K bits per second, which is not too bad across a 56K bits per
second link, especially in the presence of other traffic.

One of the reasons that NSFnet is so much faster than MILnet is that
many PSNs are linked with T1 (or faster) links rather than 56K leased
lines.

Amanda Walker
InterCon Systems Corporation
--

ntm1569@dsacg3.dsac.dla.mil (Jeff Roth) (12/15/89)

I've also been unpleasantly surprised by both throughput and
latency on the network. Our studies have shown some variation
by time of day but not as much as you might suspect; there is
greater variation depending on the route the data takes. It's
likely overloaded PSNs, in fact our worst cases are going
through one PSN to another at the same site (WPAFB).

But it does appear 56 KB buys you something; our FTP
throughput, using a 9.6 circuit, is more like 1 KB/s at best.

By the way I'd appreciate it if any readers with information on
what if any, plans exist to upgrade Milnet capacity could point
me to a source (or let me know privately by email what we can
expect).