Reducing the TIME-WAIT State Using TCP Timestamps
RFC 6191

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                           F. Gont
Request for Comments: 6191                                       UK CPNI
BCP: 159                                                      April 2011
Category: Best Current Practice
ISSN: 2070-1721

           Reducing the TIME-WAIT State Using TCP Timestamps

Abstract

   This document describes an algorithm for processing incoming SYN
   segments that allows higher connection-establishment rates between
   any two TCP endpoints when a TCP Timestamps option is present in the
   incoming SYN segment.  This document only modifies processing of SYN
   segments received for connections in the TIME-WAIT state; processing
   in all other states is unchanged.

Status of This Memo

   This memo documents an Internet Best Current Practice.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Further information on
   BCPs is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6191.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Gont                      Best Current Practice                 [Page 1]
RFC 6191        Reducing TIME-WAIT State with Timestamps      April 2011

   This document may contain material from IETF Documents or IETF
   Contributions published or made publicly available before November
   10, 2008.  The person(s) controlling the copyright in some of this
   material may not have granted the IETF Trust the right to allow
   modifications of such material outside the IETF Standards Process.
   Without obtaining an adequate license from the person(s) controlling
   the copyright in such materials, this document may not be modified
   outside the IETF Standards Process, and derivative works of it may
   not be created outside the IETF Standards Process, except to format
   it for publication as an RFC or to translate it into languages other
   than English.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
   2.  Improved Processing of Incoming Connection Requests  . . . . .  3
   3.  Interaction with Various Timestamp Generation Algorithms . . .  6
   4.  Interaction with Various ISN Generation Algorithms . . . . . .  7
   5.  Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   6.  Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   7.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
     7.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
     7.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
   Appendix A.  Behavior of the Proposed Mechanism in Specific
                Scenarios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
     A.1.  Connection Request after System Reboot . . . . . . . . . . 10

1.  Introduction

   The Timestamps option, specified in RFC 1323 [RFC1323], allows a TCP
   to include a timestamp value in its segments that can be used to
   perform two functions: Round-Trip Time Measurement (RTTM) and
   Protection Against Wrapped Sequences (PAWS).

   For the purpose of PAWS, the timestamps sent on a connection are
   required to be monotonically increasing.  While there is no
   requirement that timestamps are monotonically increasing across TCP
   connections, the generation of timestamps such that they are
   monotonically increasing across connections between the same two
   endpoints allows the use of timestamps for improving the handling of
   SYN segments that are received while the corresponding four-tuple is
   in the TIME-WAIT state.  That is, the Timestamps option could be used
   to perform heuristics to determine whether to allow the creation of a
   new incarnation of a connection that is in the TIME-WAIT state.

Gont                      Best Current Practice                 [Page 2]