Chapter 24. TCP Futures and Performance

Introduction

TCP has operated for many years over data links ranging from 1200 bits/sec dialup SLIP links to Ethernets. Ethernets were the predominant form of data link for TCP/IP in the 1980s and early 1990s. Although TCP operates correctly at speeds higher than an Ethernet (T3 phone lines, FDDI, and gigabit networks, for example), certain TCP limits start to be encountered at these higher speeds.

This chapter looks at some proposed modifications to TCP that allow it to obtain the maximum throughput at these higher speeds. We first look at the path MTU discovery mechanism, which we've seen earlier in the text, focusing this time on how it operates with TCP. This often lets TCP use an MTU greater than 536 ...

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