| In the first part of the dissertation: theory, we propose a game theoretic pricing mechanism for statistically guaranteed service in packet-switched networks. The mechanism provides congestion control, differentiated qualities of service, and efficient resource allocation. For users, the mechanism offers better quality and lower price. Service providers can base new service and revenue models within the mechanism. We apply this mechanism to the Internet.; In the second part of the dissertation: tools for implementation, we describe an integrated, programmable software toolkit, named SNT, for the design and control of adaptive, QoS capable networks. The emphasis is on the toolkit's three key ideas that are applicable to network management systems in general. The first idea is to manage network service through basic service MPLS in particular. The second idea is to provide closed-loop control through automatic measurement and dynamic reconfiguration. The third idea is a scheme to specify and access Object-Oriented MIB objects using the standard SNMP framework. Through this scheme, named MIB++, the power of Object-Oriented design is brought to Internet network management and leveraged by the large installation base of SNMP. The toolkit showcases these three ideas.; Our toolkit can be used to implement a broad range of different network management schemes including our pricing mechanism. With the mechanism and the toolkit, we offer a network service provisioning solution that is both sound in theory and implementable in practice. |
