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Network latency for Clos networks

Figure 6 shows the latency of three different size Clos networks under random traffic as a function of the aggregate network throughput. The packet length is 64 bytes. The results are produced by varying the network load and measuring the corresponding throughput and latency. It can be seen that the average latency increases exponentially as the network throughput approaches saturation.

Figure 7 shows the probability that a packet will have a latency greater than a given value for various network loads. Again the traffic pattern is random, with a packet length of 64 bytes. For 10% load the latency distribution is very narrow compared to higher loads. Near the saturation throughput (about 60% load) a significant percentage of the packets experience a latency many times the average value, which is 18 s. To reduce the probability of very large latency values the network load must be far below the saturation throughput.

  
Figure 7: Probability that a packet will have greater than a given latency value for a 64 node Clos network  
Figure 6: Latency versus throughput for 64, 128 and 256 node Clos networks  



Stefan Haas
Thu May 22 14:48:25 MET DST 1997