Re: [ledbat] list of reasons for needing multiple TCP connections

[Caitlin Bestler <[e-mail]>]

Andrew G. Malis wrote:
> As was mentioned in the IAB plenary yesterday, a reason to not use
> multiple TCP connections is the possible exhaustion of middlebox (read
> NAT) resources, such as state memory or port numbers. So if you are
> going to use multiple connections in parallel, you may wish to include
> a method for the user to control that behavior, and a way to detect
> that you're behind a NAT and adapt appropriately.
> 

The gotcha here is that every item in the list Joe supplied is
already solved by SCTP, and about the only legitimate reason
for not using SCTP is the presence of middleboxes that do
not support it.

So the only time you have an excuse for using multiple TCP
connections is exactly when there are resources that might
be exhausted by the practice.

Using multiple connections to solve a single problem inherently
degrades the ability of the network to manage traffic effectively.
I recognize that it isn't going to go away anytime soon, but there
is no reason why we should *encourage* this anti-social behavior.


-- 
Caitlin Bestler
[e-mail] - http://www.asomi.com/CaitlinBestlerResume.html
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