RFC 2582 (rfc2582) - Page 2 of 12

The NewReno Modification to TCP's Fast Recovery Algorithm

RFC 2582      NewReno Modification to TCP's Fast Recovery     April 1999


   Problems can arise, therefore, when multiple packets have been
   dropped from a single window of data and the Fast Retransmit and Fast
   Recovery algorithms are invoked.  In this case, if the SACK option is
   available, the TCP sender has the information to make intelligent
   decisions about which packets to retransmit and which packets not to
   retransmit during Fast Recovery.  This document applies only for TCP
   connections that are unable to use the TCP Selective Acknowledgement
   (SACK) option.

   In the absence of SACK, there is little information available to the
   TCP sender in making retransmission decisions during Fast Recovery.
   From the three duplicate acknowledgements, the sender infers a packet
   loss, and retransmits the indicated packet.  After this, the data
   sender could receive additional duplicate acknowledgements, as the
   data receiver acknowledges additional data packets that were already
   in flight when the sender entered Fast Retransmit.

   In the case of multiple packets dropped from a single window of data,
   the first new information available to the sender comes when the
   sender receives an acknowledgement for the retransmitted packet (that
   is the packet retransmitted when Fast Retransmit was first entered).
   If there had been a single packet drop, then the acknowledgement for
   this packet will acknowledge all of the packets transmitted before
   Fast Retransmit was entered (in the absence of reordering).  However,
   when there were multiple packet drops, then the acknowledgement for
   the retransmitted packet will acknowledge some but not all of the
   packets transmitted before the Fast Retransmit.  We call this packet
   a partial acknowledgment.

   Along with several other suggestions, [Hoe95] suggested that during
   Fast Recovery the TCP data sender respond to a partial acknowledgment
   by inferring that the indicated packet has been lost, and
   retransmitting that packet.  This document describes a modification
   to the Fast Recovery algorithm in Reno TCP that incorporates a
   response to partial acknowledgements received during Fast Recovery.
   We call this modified Fast Recovery algorithm NewReno, because it is
   a slight but significant variation of the basic Reno algorithm.  This
   document does not discuss the other suggestions in [Hoe95] and
   [Hoe96], such as a change to the ssthresh parameter during Slow-
   Start, or the proposal to send a new packet for every two duplicate
   acknowledgements during Fast Recovery.  The version of NewReno in
   this document also draws on other discussions of NewReno in the
   literature [LM97].

   We do not claim that the NewReno version of Fast Recovery described
   here is an optimal modification of Fast Recovery for responding to
   partial acknowledgements, for TCPs that are unable to use SACK.
   Based on our experiences with the NewReno modification in the NS



Floyd & Henderson             Experimental