[tor-bugs] #28582 [Core Tor/sbws]: Document the load-balancing goal for sbws

[Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki]

#28582: Document the load-balancing goal for sbws
-------------------------------+---------------------------------
     Reporter:  teor           |      Owner:  teor
         Type:  task           |     Status:  assigned
     Priority:  Medium         |  Milestone:  sbws 1.0 (MVP nice)
    Component:  Core Tor/sbws  |    Version:
     Severity:  Normal         |   Keywords:  tor-spec
Actual Points:                 |  Parent ID:  #27107
       Points:                 |   Reviewer:
      Sponsor:                 |
-------------------------------+---------------------------------
 We should include a section early in the bandwidth spec that documents the
 load balancing goal for sbws.

 Here's my initial draft:
 {{{
 Bandwidth scanners should have a well-defined network equilibrium goal.

 For sbws and Torflow without PID control, the network equilibrium goals
 are:
   1. clients experience reasonably consistent performance
   2. clients experience performance that is as fast as possible, without
 compromising goal 1
 These performance goals include both throughput and latency.

 For Torflow with PID control, the goal was:
   1. Each relay has exactly the same spare capacity for an additional
 stream
 This goal was unachievable because Tor did not provide enough feedback on
 circuit failure.

 These non-goals are common suggestions:
   1. Bandwidth is allocated equally across relays
   2. All relay bandwidth is used
 These goals are unachievable, because they conflict with the consistent
 client performance goal.
 }}}

 Based on mike's response from this thread:
 {{{
 I believe quite strongly that even if the Tor network gets faster on
 average, if this comes at the cost of increased performance variance,
 user experience and perceived speed of Tor will be much worse. There's
 nothing more annoying than a system that is *usually* fast enough to do
 what you need it to do, but fails to be fast enough for that activity at
 unpredictable times.
 }}}
 https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-dev/2018-August/013419.html

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/28582>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
The Tor Project: anonymity online