tcp-ip@ucbvax.ARPA (06/08/85)
From: CERF@USC-ISI.ARPA Have you all seen the latest edition of the Computer Communications Review? There is an article which on the surface pans the ARPANET/DOD internet architecture. I think the author makes some points worth pondering about congestion - although I also think his model of how datagram networks functin is a bit off the mark. Some people think that a routing algorithm is run for every packet entering an IMP on the ARPANET. They don't seem to realize that the routing is done in the background and tables are produced for purposes of making routing decisions for each packet. So the overhead for routing a packet in the ARPANET is no more than it is for routing in a network which creates a set menu of routes in a table. The table look up is all it takes to make the routing decision, but the contents of the table, in ARPANET, are updated as a low-level background task. It doesn't consume much bandwidth (CPU or line). Does anyone agree/disagree with the author's other remarks? Is anyone considering a response? Vint