RFC 2680 (rfc2680) - Page 1 of 15
A One-way Packet Loss Metric for IPPM
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group G. Almes
Request for Comments: 2680 S. Kalidindi
Category: Standards Track M. Zekauskas
Advanced Network & Services
September 1999
A One-way Packet Loss Metric for IPPM
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1999). All Rights Reserved.
1. Introduction
This memo defines a metric for one-way packet loss across Internet
paths. It builds on notions introduced and discussed in the IPPM
Framework document, RFC 2330 [1]; the reader is assumed to be
familiar with that document.
This memo is intended to be parallel in structure to a companion
document for One-way Delay ("A One-way Delay Metric for IPPM") [2];
the reader is assumed to be familiar with that document.
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [5].
Although RFC 2119 was written with protocols in mind, the key words
are used in this document for similar reasons. They are used to
ensure the results of measurements from two different implementations
are comparable, and to note instances when an implementation could
perturb the network.
The structure of the memo is as follows:
+ A 'singleton' analytic metric, called Type-P-One-way-Loss, is
introduced to measure a single observation of packet transmission
or loss.
Almes, et al. Standards Track