The Interaction of the TCP Flow Control Procedure in End Nodes on the Proposed Flow Control Mechanism for Use in IEEE 802.3 Switches

The existing Ethernet and Token Ring based networks, known as legacy LANs, are no longer able to satisfy the constantly growing demand for more bandwidth and better quality of service. However, switching technology is a solution that seems to be able to cope with further expanding requirements. Introducing switches with new flow control schemes makes the networks faster and more efficient but, at the same time, this can cause other problems. An example is the interaction between the well-established endto-end TCP flow control and the hop-by-hop switch flow control. The interaction between these two flow control mechanisms is too complex to be solved using theoretical analysis and hence simulation modelling has been used. The advantages and drawbacks of using both flow control schemes firstly independently and secondly together has been investigated and the results are presented and discussed in the paper.