[fa.tcp-ip] Namesolving via SATNET

tcp-ip@ucbvax.ARPA (06/28/85)

From: mills@dcn6.arpa

Folks,

A few minutes ago (about 18Z on Thursday afternoon), I collected the following
delay data on the path between DCN-GATEWAY (10.0.0.111) and UCL-GATEWAY
(4.0.0.60), each on opposite sides of SATNET, using ICMP Echo/Echo Reply
messages. Of the 808 ICMP Echo messages sent, all but 66 had come back as ICMP
Echo Reply messages within ten seconds. In my simple experiment it was not
possible to determine if any of these 66 messages did in fact wander back
after more than ten seconds. Of those that came back, the minimum delay was
1539 milliseconds and the mean 2175 milliseconds.

For calibration purposes, the mean delay on the path between DCN-GATEWAY and
the nearest SATNET gateway ranges between about 78 and 379 milliseconds with a
mean of 91 milliseconds. The delays between the namesolver host, name-server
host and their respective gateways are not included, nor are the delays
intrinsic to the host operating systems. The total of these delays could
easily contribute another few hundred milliseconds to the total.

Following is a crude histogram showing the (normalized) delay distribution.

Value	Count
----------------+
1200	0	|
1400	4	|****
1600	39	|***************************************
1800	95	|************************************************************
2000	67	|************************************************************
2200	18	|******************
2400	5	|*****
2600	1	|*
2800	0	|
3000	1	|*
3200	0	|
3400	0	|
3600	2	|**
3800	0	|
4000	0	|
4200	0	|
4400	0	|
4600	0	|
4800	0	|
5000	0	|
5200	1	|*
5400	0	|

The performance shown above is typically of SATNET under light loading
conditions. The mean roundtrip delay somewhat less than I am used to from
other measurements suggests that, at the moment, one of the non-reservation
modes is in effect, possibly FTDMA.

These data should be instructive to those designing namesolver retransmission
strategies, not to mention those configuring TCPs to work over such paths.

Dave
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