Performance-Related Reliability Analysis Methodology of Computer Networks.

Based on the bottlenecks in current performance-related network reliability (PRNR) research, this article selects network time delay as PRNR evaluation foundation, and defines PRNR measure as the probability that the actual network delay is no bigger than the required value during network long-term operating under the specified conditions of resource allocation and network operating environment. To obtain PRNR, a novel threshold-optimization-based network traffic model is proposed to model real network traffic. In this model, the actual network traffic is divided into two different parts--a-traffic with burst characteristic, and b-trajfic with steady characteristic--according to the optimized threshold value obtained with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). Analysis to PRNR is carried out in two different time levels--macro-time level and micro-time level--to avoid the difficulties resulting from the great difference in reliability and performance dimension. In the macro-time level, the number of the operational network workstations varying with random failures is obtained. In the micro-time level, the packet delay is analyzed with the number of the operational workstations as a parameter. Combing the analysis in these two time levels together, the integrated PRNR model is established, and influences of different parameters are analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]