congestion
Congestion occurs when network demand exceeds available capacity, causing degraded performance, increased latency, and potential packet loss. Effective management is essential for reliable application delivery.
Network congestion arises when the volume of data traffic surpasses the network’s capacity, leading to bottlenecks, slower performance, and dropped packets. This can happen at routers, switches, or links due to high usage, equipment failures, or poor configuration.
Key mitigation strategies include traffic engineering, capacity planning, and implementing Quality of Service (QoS) to prioritize critical traffic. Queue management and congestion avoidance algorithms (like RED or ECN) help maintain optimal flow and minimize packet loss.
Continuous monitoring and analysis are vital to detect congestion hotspots and proactively address performance bottlenecks. Proper network design and resource allocation further reduce the risk of congestion and ensure consistent user experience.
Alternatives to congestion management include network upgrades or deploying content delivery solutions to offload busy links.