A method for RED reconfiguration in multi-service networks

Random Early Detection, or RED is a buffer management scheme that has been promoted by the IETF, and has been widely implemented by network equipment vendors. The algorithm used is initialised through a number of parameters that determine how network traffic is dealt with under periods of transient and persistent congestion. Setting these parameters is not a trivial task as they are dependent on the estimated traffic volume and traffic profile of the network in question, entities that may change rapidly in today's heterogeneous networking environment. In this paper, we present a novel method of detecting when the configuration of RED may be suboptimal, which provides a basis for re-initialising the RED algorithm with alternative parameters. We believe this technique may also be applicable to the configuration of other network control algorithms.