[e2e] Number of persistent connections per HTTP server?

[Joe Touch]

Coene Lode wrote:
>>Qiaobing Xie wrote:
>>
>>>This may be a little controversial, but SCTP seems to be able to help
>>>here.
>>
>>Yes and no; it certainly provides a way to mux inside of a connection. 
>>The problem we've seen is that there can be priority inversion when the 
>>muxing isn't done at the IP layer.
> 
> 
> I seem to missing some information on why muxing at the IP layer does away
> with priority inversion as opposed with muxing on the transport layer. Whose
> priority (and where) is inverted?    
> This isn't clear to me. Could you elaborate a bit?

See:
D. Tennenhouse, "Layered Multiplexing Considered Harmful", Protocols for 
High-Speed Networks, 1989.

Muxing is required at the IP layer. Adding muxing above it, inside the 
application, creates a layering that can cause a number of problems.

>>SCTP is further a very heavyweight way to get there.
> 
> Are there lightweight, middleweight, featherweight...  alternatives then?

I mentioned one earlier - RFC2140. Compared to SCTP it's diaphanous.

Joe