Relaxing Restrictions on Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) Experimentation
RFC 8311

• Status
• IESG evaluation record
• IESG writeups
• Email expansions
• History

• Versions
• 00
• 01
• 02
• 03
• 04
• 05
• 06
• 07
• 08

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                          D. Black
Request for Comments: 8311                                      Dell EMC
Updates: 3168, 4341, 4342, 5622, 6679                       January 2018
Category: Standards Track
ISSN: 2070-1721

                        Relaxing Restrictions on
         Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN) Experimentation

Abstract

   This memo updates RFC 3168, which specifies Explicit Congestion
   Notification (ECN) as an alternative to packet drops for indicating
   network congestion to endpoints.  It relaxes restrictions in RFC 3168
   that hinder experimentation towards benefits beyond just removal of
   loss.  This memo summarizes the anticipated areas of experimentation
   and updates RFC 3168 to enable experimentation in these areas.  An
   Experimental RFC in the IETF document stream is required to take
   advantage of any of these enabling updates.  In addition, this memo
   makes related updates to the ECN specifications for RTP in RFC 6679
   and for the Datagram Congestion Control Protocol (DCCP) in RFCs 4341,
   4342, and 5622.  This memo also records the conclusion of the ECN
   nonce experiment in RFC 3540 and provides the rationale for
   reclassification of RFC 3540 from Experimental to Historic; this
   reclassification enables new experimental use of the ECT(1)
   codepoint.

Status of This Memo

   This is an Internet Standards Track document.

   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
   Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 7841.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8311.

Black                        Standards Track                    [Page 1]
RFC 8311                   ECN Experimentation              January 2018

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2018 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
   (https://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.

   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.

Black                        Standards Track                    [Page 2]
RFC 8311                   ECN Experimentation              January 2018

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
     1.1.  ECN Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
     1.2.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   2.  ECN Experimentation: Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     2.1.  Effective Congestion Control is Required  . . . . . . . .   6
     2.2.  Network Considerations for ECN Experimentation  . . . . .   6
     2.3.  Operational and Management Considerations . . . . . . . .   7
   3.  ECN Nonce and RFC 3540  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   8
   4.  Updates to RFC 3168 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     4.1.  Congestion Response Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . .   9
     4.2.  Congestion Marking Differences  . . . . . . . . . . . . .  10
     4.3.  TCP Control Packets and Retransmissions . . . . . . . . .  13
   5.  ECN for RTP Updates to RFC 6679 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  14
   6.  ECN for DCCP Updates to RFCs 4341, 4342, and 5622 . . . . . .  16
   7.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
   8.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  16
   9.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17
     9.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  17