Perturbation analysis of a token bus protocol for network performance management

An application of perturbation analysis to performance management of multiple-access computer networks is presented. It is shown how perturbation analysis enables a discrete-event simulation program to calculate the network performance stimulated by perturbation in priority timer settings of a linear token-passing protocol in concurrence with simulation or online operation of the network with nominal parameter settings. By feeding this information to the stochastic optimization program(s) (which could be resident in the network management system), the priority timer settings are updated to improve the network performance. This procedure for performance management can help bridge the gap between management standards and users' demands for efficient network operation, since most standards, such as ISO OSI and IEEE, address only the network management architecture and interfaces.