Making the Reservation

Connect to the marketplace by clicking on the Connect icon ().
If the News window is not visible, select “News” from Status pull-down menu. The News window appears.

Click the Start icon ().
Read the available bandwidth The amount of data transmitted or received per unit of time. When we refer to acquiring or selling bandwidth, we mean the amount of information that can be sent over a connection at one time, at the allowed speed, without packet loss or excessive delay. Bandwidth is measured in bits-per-second.capacity In the Merkato interface, the term capacity refers to the total amount of bandwidth available from the Seller. from either the News or the Resource The bandwidth service that is offered through a single Merkato marketplace. It will have service attributes, an available quantity earmarked for it by the NSC, and a market mechanism for distributing bandwidth (either the spot market or reservation market The Merkato market mechanism by which a specified quantity of bandwidth, for a specific duration, is sold for a firm price specified by the seller and agreed to by the buyer. This is an automated process based on a rate sheet that the seller establishes in advance. ). window. If this capacity is greater than or equal to what you want, proceed. (If not, you can either attempt to obtain what is available or consider buying bandwidth on the spot market The Merkato mechanism by which bandwidth is traded, in a progressive second price auction. An optimal fair market price The price for something that buyers and sellers agree on. Merkato establishes a market price for bandwidth during each spot market auction round. There is a fixed amount for sale, so as demand increases, prices rise. The market price is reached when the cumulative demand of all the buyers is exactly equal to the amount of bandwidth being offered by the seller. is established and bandwidth is allocated to buyers, based on their bids relative to other buyers..)
From the Strategy pull-down menu, select Reservation Strategy. (Expand the display area, if necessary, to see the Reservation Strategy window at the bottom.

Click the Pack icon () on the menu-bar or select “Pack” under the View pull-down menu. The agent The program that interacts with the rest of Merkato on behalf of buyers and sellers. Buyers can acquire bandwidth by configuring their agents to offer the price they are willing to pay for a range of available quantity, or use their agent to request a quote for a fixed-price bandwidth reservation. Sellers configure their agents with a quantity of bandwidth for sale and a minimum price they are willing to accept for that quantity. window resizes itself to accommodate the windows you are currently displaying. (You can also de-select the Stack icon () so you can move windows freely around the screen.)

In the Reservation Strategy window, make sure the Current Strategy button is selected.

If the quantity (Mbps One of the ways of expressing units of bandwidth-Megabits-per-second (1,000,000 bits-per-second).) or time units (month) do not suit your needs, you can change the units. Select Units from the Selection pull-down menu. The Units box lets you use Kbps One of the ways of expressing units of bandwidth-kilobits-per-second (1,000 bits-per-second)., Mbps, or Gbps One of the ways of expressing units of bandwidth; Gigabits-per-second (1,000,000,000 bits-per-second)., as well as minutes, hours, days, or months, and dollars and cents.

In the Start Time panel, select when you want the reservation to begin. There are three choices for the start time of your reservation:

Current Time: If you select Current Time, the reservation, if accepted, begins immediately. To select the present as a start time click the radio button on the left.

Future time: If you want the reservation to start at a certain future time, enter the year, month, day, hour, and minute at which you want the reservation to start. You must make sure that the date is valid (not February 30^th, for example). Should you inadvertently enter an invalid date, Merkato attempts to determine your intent and presents an equivalent valid date. If this is not what you intended to specify, you will have the chance to refuse the reservation and return to the date selection window. To select a future start time click the radio button on the left.

End time of a reservation: If you have already created one or more reservations, they appear in this pull-down list. You can select the end of one of these existing reservations as the start time of the new reservation you are making. Select it from the list and click the radio button on the left.
In the End Time panel, select when you want the reservation to end. There are two choices for the end time of your reservation:

Future time: Enter the year, month, day, hour, and minute at which you want the reservation to end. You must make sure that the date is valid (not February 30^th, for example). Should you inadvertently enter an invalid date, Merkato attempts to determine your intent and present an equivalent valid date. If this is not what you intended to specify, you will have the chance to refuse the reservation and return to the date selection window.

Start time of a reservation: If you have already created one or more reservations, they appear in this pull-down list. You can select the start of one of these existing reservations as the end time of the new reservation you are making. Select it from the list and click the radio button on the left.
Enter the amount of bandwidth you want in the Reservation portion of the box.

If you are satisfied that the quantity and duration specified, click Get Quote. A confirmation box appears.

If the price and cancellation fee are acceptable, click Accept. Otherwise, click Refuse and revise your reservation

Once you click Accept your reservation is activated.

To review or cancel your reservation, select “Reservation Table” from the Status pull-down menu. The Reservation Table appears:

To cancel a reservation, select it from the Reservation Table and click Cancel Reservation.