[comp.protocols.tcp-ip] Duplicate packets in Internet

dheeraj@cs.umd.edu (Dheeraj Sanghi) (06/01/90)

I wonder if people have noticed duplicate IP packets in
any study. Is there any possibility of duplication apart
from because of some bug in the gateway software?

Any pointers in this regard would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

-dheeraj

--
Dheeraj Sanghi			(h):301-794-6247	(o):301-454-1516
Internet: dheeraj@cs.umd.edu	UUCP: uunet!mimsy!dheeraj
If you want to judge the culture and civilization of a people you can find
that out by the status and conditions of the women of the country. - Nehru

art@OPAL.ACC.COM (Art Berggreen) (06/01/90)

Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip
Subject: Re: Duplicate packets in Internet.
Summary: 
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References: <24688@mimsy.umd.edu>
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Reply-To: art@opalacc.com (Art Berggreen)
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Organization: Advanced Computer Communications, Santa Barbara, California
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In article <24688@mimsy.umd.edu> dheeraj@cs.umd.edu (Dheeraj Sanghi) writes:
>
>I wonder if people have noticed duplicate IP packets in
>any study. Is there any possibility of duplication apart
>from because of some bug in the gateway software?

The most common source would be from unneccessary transport level
retransmissions.  This is usually due to rapid build up of congestion.
This is aggravated by non adapting retransmission strategies.
The most famous situation is the "congestion collapse" first described
(I believe) by Nagle.

>Any pointers in this regard would be much appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>
>-dheeraj
>
>--
>Dheeraj Sanghi			(h):301-794-6247	(o):301-454-1516
>Internet: dheeraj@cs.umd.edu	UUCP: uunet!mimsy!dheeraj
>If you want to judge the culture and civilization of a people you can find
>that out by the status and conditions of the women of the country. - Nehru

Art Berggreen
ACC

postel@VENERA.ISI.EDU (06/02/90)

Dheeraj:

Just run "ping" thru any NSS.  You get back more echo-replies than
echo-requests you sent.  Somebody is duplicating something somewhere.

--jon.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
% ping lcs.mit.edu
PING lcs.mit.edu: 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 18.26.0.36: icmp_seq=0. time=499. ms
64 bytes from 18.26.0.36: icmp_seq=1. time=360. ms
64 bytes from 18.26.0.36: icmp_seq=1. time=360. ms
64 bytes from 18.26.0.36: icmp_seq=2. time=340. ms
64 bytes from 18.26.0.36: icmp_seq=3. time=320. ms
64 bytes from 18.26.0.36: icmp_seq=4. time=360. ms
64 bytes from 18.26.0.36: icmp_seq=5. time=400. ms
64 bytes from 18.26.0.36: icmp_seq=5. time=440. ms
64 bytes from 18.26.0.36: icmp_seq=6. time=339. ms
64 bytes from 18.26.0.36: icmp_seq=6. time=339. ms
64 bytes from 18.26.0.36: icmp_seq=7. time=380. ms
64 bytes from 18.26.0.36: icmp_seq=8. time=340. ms
64 bytes from 18.26.0.36: icmp_seq=9. time=340. ms
64 bytes from 18.26.0.36: icmp_seq=10. time=380. ms
64 bytes from 18.26.0.36: icmp_seq=10. time=440. ms
64 bytes from 18.26.0.36: icmp_seq=11. time=340. ms
^C
----lcs.mit.edu PING Statistics----
12 packets transmitted, 16 packets received, -33% packet loss
round-trip (ms)  min/avg/max = 320/373/499
% 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

dheeraj@cs.umd.edu (Dheeraj Sanghi) (06/08/90)

>I wonder if people have noticed duplicate IP packets in
>any study. Is there any possibility of duplication apart
>from because of some bug in the gateway software?
>
>Any pointers in this regard would be much appreciated.
>
>Thanks,
>
>-dheeraj

I have received lots of replies to my query. I wish to thank all
of you. Because of large amount of mail I have received, I am sorry
I would not be able to reply to all of you personally.

Here is the summary of responses:

Many people suggested that there is some problem with NSS gateways
and they duplicate packets. It could be checked by pinging any of
the NSS gateways.

Many people suggested that duplicates are due to congestion, bad
timers etc at the transport level. Sorry, I was interested in
duplicates that the network generates, and not those which are
generated by the source transport level protocol.

Couple of people suggested that duplicates at the IP level could
be the result of link level retransmission.

Thanks once again to all of you,

-dheeraj

--
Dheeraj Sanghi			(h):301-794-6247	(o):301-454-1516
Internet: dheeraj@cs.umd.edu	UUCP: uunet!mimsy!dheeraj
	When you find you are on the side of the majority,
	it is time to reform.		- Mark Twain