We develop a new class of asynchronous distributed algorithms for the explicit rate control of elastic sessions in an integrated packet network. Sessions can request for minimum guaranteed rate allocations (e.g., MCRs in the ATM context), and, under this constraint, we seek to allocate the max-min fair rates to the sessions. We capture the integrated network context by permitting the link bandwidths available to elastic sessions to be stochastically time varying. The available capacity of each link is viewed as some statistic of this stochastic process (e.g., a fraction of the mean, or a large deviations Equivalent Service Capacity (ESC)). For fixed available capacity at each link, we show that the vector of max-min fair rates can be computed from the root of a certain vector equation. A distributed asynchronous stochastic approximation technique is then used to develop a provably convergent distributed algorithm for obtaining the root of the equation, even when the link flows and the ...

The Internet can be viewed as the transportation infrastructure for the deployment of Information Technology. The flow of traffic in any transportation network needs to be controlled to avoid congestion, to provide special service to flows that need it, and to protect against overloads. In this paper, we consider the control of store-and-forward (also called elastic) traffic in the Internet. We first motivate the need for feedback based congestion controls for elastic traffic. These controls provide for fair sharing of the network bandwidth, and hence determine how bandwidth is shared between elastic flows. We discuss two approaches for implementing such controls: in one, the network provides explicit feedbacks to the traffic sources, and in the other the sources adjust their rates based on implicit feedbacks. Then we discuss models that could help in sizing the Internet for guaranteeing minimum throughputs to elastic flows. These models lead to engineering guidelines and su...