RFC 2556 (rfc2556) - Page 1 of 4

OSI connectionless transport services on top of UDP Applicability Statement for Historic Status

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Network Working Group                                         S. Bradner
Request for Comments: 2556                            Harvard University
Category: Informational                                       March 1999


             OSI connectionless transport services on top
           of UDP Applicability Statement for Historic Status

Status of this Memo

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

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   RFC 1240, "OSI connectionless transport services on top of UDP", was
   published as a Proposed Standard in June 1991 but at this time there
   do not seem to be any implementations which follow RFC 1240.  In
   addition there is a growing concern over using UDP-based transport
   protocols in environments where congestion is a possibility.

1. Use of RFC 1240 Technology

   A message was sent to the IETF list in October 1998 seeking any
   information on the actual use of the technology described in RFC
   1240.  A number of responses were received, including from the
   International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the keeper of
   the OSI protocols.  None of these messages pointed to any current use
   for this technology.  Most of the messages which made any
   recommendation did recommend that RFC 1240 be moved to historic.

2. Responsiveness to Congestion

   Since 1991 there has been a great deal of experience with the
   complexities of dealing with congestion in the Internet.  Congestion
   control algorithms have been improved but there is still work
   underway to further understand the issues.  In this environment any
   UDP-based protocol is somewhat worrisome since quite frequently
   people who use UDP-based protocols invent their own reliability and
   congestion control functions which may not include the results of the
   current state of the art.  This leads to a dange r of congestion
   collapse with potentially quite serious consequences for the network
   in which it is run.  See RFC 896 for a discussion of congestion



Bradner                      Informational
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