RFC 1379 (rfc1379) - Page 1 of 38

Extending TCP for Transactions -- Concepts

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Network Working Group                                          R. Braden
Request for Comments: 1379                                           ISI
                                                           November 1992


               Extending TCP for Transactions -- Concepts

Status of This Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard.  Distribution of this memo is
   unlimited.

Abstract

   This memo discusses extension of TCP to provide transaction-oriented
   service, without altering its virtual-circuit operation.  This
   extension would fill the large gap between connection-oriented TCP
   and datagram-based UDP, allowing TCP to efficiently perform many
   applications for which UDP is currently used.  A separate memo
   contains a detailed functional specification for this proposed
   extension.

   This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation
   under Grant Number NCR-8922231.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

   1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................  2
   2. TRANSACTIONS USING STANDARD TCP ...............................  3
   3. BYPASSING THE 3-WAY HANDSHAKE .................................  6
      3.1  Concept of TAO ...........................................  6
      3.2  Cache Initialization ..................................... 10
      3.3  Accepting  Segments ............................. 11
   4. SHORTENING TIME-WAIT STATE .................................... 13
   5. CHOOSING A MONOTONIC SEQUENCE ................................. 15
      5.1  Cached Timestamps ........................................ 16
      5.2  Current TCP Sequence Numbers ............................. 18
      5.3  64-bit Sequence Numbers .................................. 20
      5.4  Connection Counts ........................................ 20
      5.5  Conclusions .............................................. 21
   6. CONNECTION STATES ............................................. 24
   7. CONCLUSIONS AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................... 32
   APPENDIX A: TIME-WAIT STATE AND THE 2-PACKET EXCHANGE ............ 34
   REFERENCES ....................................................... 37
   Security Considerations .......................................... 38
   Author's Address ................................................. 38




Braden
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