Zeroconf protocol
H. Bohnenkamp, P. van der Stok, H. Hermanns, and F. Vaandrager. Cost-Optimisation of the IPv4 Zeroconf Protocol. In Proceedings of the 2003 International Conference on Dependable Systems and Networks (DSN'03), June 22-25, San Fransisco CA, IEEE CS Press, pages 531-540, June 2003.Abstract
This paper investigates the tradeoff between reliability and effectiveness for the IPv4 Zeroconf protocol, proposed by Cheshire/Adoba/Guttman in 2002, dedicated to the self-configuration of IP network interfaces. We develop a simple stochastic cost model of the protocol, where reliability is measured in terms of the probability to avoid an address collision after configuration, while effectiveness is viewed as the average penalty perceived by a user. We derive an analytical expression for the user penalty which we use to derive optimal configuration parameters of the network, restricting to those parameters which are under the control of a consumer electronics manufacturer. In particular we show that minimal cost and maximal reliability are qualities that cannot be achieved at the same time.