[e2e] Nagle algorithm clarification

Rick Jones raj at cup.hp.com
Tue Jan 30 10:16:06 PST 2001


> RFC-1122 is the standard, so from a standards viewpoint, it's
> description overrides RFC 896.
> 
> The purpose of the Nagle algorithm is to avoid sending lots
> of small packets.  So, when you've queued up enough data for a
> full packet, there is no longer any advantage in delaying that
> packet, since you won't be able to put any more data into it.
> The refinements in RFC-1122 are based on the 5 years of experience
> after RFC-896 was published.

Though IIRC, 1122's describing what to do in terms of SND.mumble
tends/tended to lead stack writers to interpret the nagle algorithm on a
segment by segment basis rather than the correct (imho :) per-send
basis.

I think there was a discussion about that on tcp-impl (or maybe it was
here) but I cannot recall if another RFC was going to be forthcoming on
that or not.

rick jones
-- 
ftp://ftp.cup.hp.com/dist/networking/misc/rachel/
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway... :)
feel free to email, OR post, but please do NOT do BOTH...
my email address is raj in the cup.hp.com domain...



More information about the end2end-interest mailing list