NOTE: This charter is accurate as of the 30th IETF Meeting in Toronto. It
may now be out-of-date. (Consider this a "snapshot" of the working
group from that meeting.) Up-to-date charters for all active working
groups can be found elsewhere in this Web server.
Benchmarking Methodology (BMWG) Charter
Chair(s)
- Jim McQuaid <mcquaid@wg.com>
Mailing List Information
- General Discussion <bmwg@harvard.edu>
- To Subscribe <bmwg-request@harvard.edu>
- Archive <>
Description of Working Group
The major goal of the Benchmarking Methodology Working Group is to make a
series of recommendations concerning the measurement of the performance
characteristics of different classes of network equipment and software
services.
Each recommendation will describe the class of equipment or service,
discuss the performance characteristics that are pertinent to that
class, specify a suite of performance benchmarks that test the described
characteristics, as well as specify the requirements for common
reporting of benchmark results.
Classes of network equipment can be broken down into two broad
categories. The first deals with stand-alone network devices such as
routers, bridges, repeaters, and LAN wiring concentrators. The second
category includes host-dependent equipment and services, such as network
interfaces or TCP/IP implementations.
Once benchmarking methodologies for stand-alone devices have matured
sufficiently, the group plans to focus on methodologies for testing
system-wide performance, including issues such as the responsiveness of
routing algorithms to topology changes.
Goals and Milestones
- TBD
- Once the community has had time to comment on the definitions of devices and performance criteria, a second document will be issued. This document will make specific recommendations regarding the suite of benchmark performance tests for each of the defined classes of network devices.
- Done
- The document will also define various classes of stand-alone network devices such as repeaters, bridges, routers, and LAN wiring concentrators as well as detail the relative importance of various performance criteria within each class.
- Done
- Issue a document that provides a common set of definitions for performance criteria, such as latency and throughput.
NOTE: The Internet-Draft(s) listed below may have been deleted
since they are only good for six months.
Request for Comments