A case for faster mobile web in cellular IPv6 networks

The transition to IPv6 cellular networks creates uncertainty for content providers (CPs) and content delivery networks (CDNs) of whether and how to follow suit. Do CPs that update their CDN contracts to allow IPv6 hosting achieve better, or worse performance in mobile networks? Should CDNs continue to host mobile content over IPv4 networks, or persuade to their CP customers the performance benefits of IPv6 content delivery? In this paper we answer these questions through a comprehensive comparison of IPv4 and IPv6 mobile Web performance in cellular networks in the US from the point of view of Akamai's content delivery infrastructure. Our data show that IPv6 hosting outperforms legacy IPv4 paths in mobile Web. Our analysis leads to clear recommendations for CPs to transition to IPv6-hosted mobile Web. Finally, we propose new mechanisms, through which CDNs can safely transition mobile content to IPv6-enabled servers for improved content delivery.

[1]  Shaozhi Ye,et al.  Understanding Current IPv 6 Performance : A Case Study from CERNET , 2004 .

[2]  Moritz Steiner,et al.  What slows you down? Your network or your device? , 2016, ArXiv.

[3]  Paul V. Mockapetris,et al.  Domain names - implementation and specification , 1987, RFC.

[4]  Paul Barford,et al.  Assessing performance of Internet services on IPv6 , 2013, 2013 IEEE Symposium on Computers and Communications (ISCC).

[5]  Dan Wing,et al.  Happy Eyeballs: Success with Dual-Stack Hosts , 2012, RFC.

[6]  Markku Kojo,et al.  Speeding up IPv6 transition: Discovering NAT64 and learning prefix for IPv6 address synthesis , 2012, 2012 IEEE International Conference on Communications (ICC).

[7]  Dan Wing,et al.  Session Traversal Utilities for NAT (STUN) , 2020, RFC.

[8]  Brighten Godfrey,et al.  Low latency via redundancy , 2013, CoNEXT.

[9]  Konstantina Papagiannaki,et al.  Is the Web HTTP/2 Yet? , 2016, PAM.

[10]  Marcelo Bagnulo,et al.  Internet Engineering Task Force (ietf) Stateful Nat64: Network Address and Protocol Translation from Ipv6 Clients to Ipv4 Servers , 2011 .

[11]  Wing Cheong Lau,et al.  Empirical Performance of IPv6 vs. IPv4 under a Dual-Stack Environment , 2008, 2008 IEEE International Conference on Communications.

[12]  Jari Arkko,et al.  Guidelines for Using IPv6 Transition Mechanisms during IPv6 Deployment , 2011, RFC.

[13]  Dan Wing,et al.  Learning the IPv6 Prefix of a Network's IPv6/IPv4 Translator , 2009 .

[14]  Moritz Steiner,et al.  Detecting Cellular Middleboxes Using Passive Measurement Techniques , 2016, PAM.

[15]  Mohammed Boucadair,et al.  A64: DNS Resource Record for IPv4-Embedded IPv6 Address , 2010 .

[16]  Teemu Savolainen,et al.  EDNS0 Option for Indicating AAAA Record Synthesis and Format , 2011 .

[17]  Yuchung Cheng,et al.  TCP fast open , 2011, CoNEXT '11.

[18]  Narseo Vallina-Rodriguez,et al.  CRAWDAD dataset icsi/netalyzr-android (v.2015-03-24) , 2015 .

[19]  Moritz Steiner,et al.  Faster Web through Client-Assisted CDN Server Selection , 2015, 2015 24th International Conference on Computer Communication and Networks (ICCCN).

[20]  Henning Schulzrinne,et al.  Reflections on Middlebox Detection Mechanisms in IPv 6 Transition , 2014 .

[21]  Ryan Hamilton,et al.  QUIC: A UDP-Based Secure and Reliable Transport for HTTP/2 , 2016 .

[22]  Vikki S. Katz,et al.  Opportunity for all? Technology and learning in lower-income families , 2016 .

[23]  Kimberly C. Claffy,et al.  Measuring the deployment of IPv6: topology, routing and performance , 2012, IMC '12.

[24]  Boris Nechaev,et al.  Netalyzr: illuminating the edge network , 2010, IMC '10.

[25]  Alexander L. Wijesinha,et al.  A comparison of VoIP performance on IPv6 and IPv4 networks , 2009, 2009 IEEE/ACS International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications.

[26]  Piet Van Mieghem,et al.  IPv6 delay and loss performance evolution , 2008, Int. J. Commun. Syst..

[27]  Randy Bush,et al.  A Primer on IPv4 Scarcity , 2014, CCRV.

[28]  Ramesh K. Sitaraman,et al.  End-User Mapping: Next Generation Request Routing for Content Delivery , 2015, Comput. Commun. Rev..

[29]  Ramesh K. Sitaraman,et al.  The Akamai network: a platform for high-performance internet applications , 2010, OPSR.

[30]  Lorenzo Colitti,et al.  Evaluating IPv6 Adoption in the Internet , 2010, PAM.

[31]  Christian Huitema,et al.  IPv6 Addressing of IPv4/IPv6 Translators , 2010, RFC.

[32]  Teemu Savolainen,et al.  Discovery of a Network-Specific NAT64 Prefix using a Well-Known Name , 2011 .

[33]  David Ward,et al.  Gateway-Initiated Dual-Stack Lite Deployment , 2012, RFC.