A novel fairness-aware parallel download scheme

Abstract

Parallel download protocols that establish multiple TCP connections to distributed replica servers have the potential to reduce file download times and to achieve server-side load balancing. Unfortunately, parallel download protocols are inherently unfair towards single-flow downloads and may even starve them. This paper presents a fairness-aware parallel download protocol that allows the dynamic mitigation of throughput and fairness in distributed networks. The key novelty is a receiver-based framework that allows a dynamic adjustment of the congestion and rate control of each subconnection. The proposed Fairness-aware Control Coordinator (FCC) adjusts the priority of the subconnection between the TCP-fair rate (high priority) and the TCP-LP fair rate (low priority) according to the dynamics on the network without adding to the unfairness towards other downloads. Simulation results show the flexibility of the proposed protocol in balancing performance and fairness.