Re: [e2e] opening multiple TCP connections getting popular

Bob Briscoe wrote:
> Joe,
>
> I composed responses yesterday to each of your points, but I've realised
> there's no purpose in sending them until the underlying terms of
> reference are mended...

The underlying issues are, as far as this thread is concerned, IMO:

1. any mechanism that TCP needs to be per-user fair - to defeat multiple TCP connections as a cheat - is needed both for TCP and flow-rate fairness.
2. that mechanism doesn't exist, so flow-rate fairness alone isn't sufficient
3. if that mechanism did exist, THEN we're back to arguing the definition of fairness at two levels (at least):
4. from the user down to the flow/connection within that nonexistent mechanism
5. among flows/connections

Near as I can tell, FRF addresses ONLY 3b.

IMO, this thread is more about 3a; FRF has absolutely nothing to do with that.

IMO, 3a drives more about what people consider 'fair' than anything else.

You raised an excellent point that there's nothing about this mechanism that we cannot implement, however, 3a requires knowing the policy we want to enforce, and we don't know (or at least don't agree upon) that.

Further, we agree that FRF is better than TCP-friendly 'fairness'.

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We probably ought to agree to disagree about whether TCP-friendly fairness is so utterly broken that it needs to be replaced, and whether the impact required to deploy FRF is worth the benefit gained. That's the devil in our past arguments, and in most of the negative FRF feedback I've seen from the IETF in public.

However, those last two points have nothing to do with this thread, again, AFAICT.

Joe

-- 
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Joe Touch                Sr. Network Engineer, USAF TSAT Space Segment
               Postel Center Director & Research Assoc. Prof., USC/ISI


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