Monitoring and measuring wireless network performance in the presence of middleboxes

Monitoring and measurement of wireless networks play an important role for a number of reasons. In current networking scenarios, middleboxes (NAT, firewall, PEP, PCMS, …) are more and more common. In this paper we present preliminary results of our ongoing work on the monitoring and measurement of the performance of real operational wireless networks in the presence of middleboxes. We analyze the 3G network of two of the major operators in Europe and the satellite network of one of the major European providers of satellite connectivity. Our results show how middleboxes can deeply change the results of an experiment: in the presence of such devices, the performance parameters of interest can obtain completely different values when measured with different tools and methodologies. To cope with these issues, we propose an approach composed of both active and passive techniques, considering several layers in a combined fashion, using different traffic profiles, and looking at both side of the considered middleboxes.