BitTorrent packet traffic features over IPv6 and IPv4

At present, BitTorrent protocol packets constitute a large part of peer-to-peer application traffic on the Internet. Due to the increasing amount of BitTorrent traffic, it has become inevitable to take into account its effects on network management. Generally, studies on BitTorrent traffic measurement have involved analysis with packets transmitted via IPv4 protocol. However, with several facilities provided by IPv6 protocol, its traffic volume in operational networks is increasing day by day. New features of IPv6 enhance packet processing speeds over routers, switches and end systems. We consider that traffic features and packet traffic characteristics are likely to be affected with increasing amount of IPv6 protocol traffic. Therefore, it becomes significant to explore IPv6 packet traffic characteristics and application traffic features over IPv6. In this study, we investigate the IPv6 BitTorrent packet traffic characteristics in terms of autocorrelation, power spectral density and self similarity of packet size and packet interarrival time. We also perform distribution modeling for IPv4 and IPv6 BitTorrent packet traffic. With these models, efficient packet traffic traces are generated for network simulation studies. A detailed comparison is performed to determine differences between IPv4 and IPv6 BitTorrent packet traffic. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.