Towards Evaluating Multipath TCP using Linux Tools and Utilities

Abstract

Multipath TCP (MPTCP) is a transport protocol standardized in RFC 8684 and is an ongoing research topic at IETF. The implementation of MPTCP is under active development in the Linux network community. Performing experiments with MPTCP using the Linux network stack requires installing external tools and utilities. This paper analyzes the tools and utilities that are popularly used for MPTCP experimentation using the Linux network stack. Subsequently, using these tools and utilities, we perform a deep-dive analysis of the implementation of the connection establishment phase of MPTCP in the Linux kernel by conducting experiments and comparing whether this implementation is in line with the RFC. We leverage Linux network namespaces to perform experiments because they provide a lightweight alternative to setting up physical testbeds or virtual machines. Moreover, it makes our experiments easily reproducible across different Linux platforms. Our experiments show that the Linux implementation of the connection establishment phase of MPTCP closely follows RFC 8684. © 2023 ACM.