[ih] Re: Global congestion collapse

[Michael Welzl]

Dear all,

Some of you mentioned a TCP patch by Jacobson in this thread - e.g.:

> Craig Partridge wrote:
> ...
> >>Either way, though, it was pretty shortly thereafter that I remember
> >>getting my first replacement .o files with yummy new TCP congestion
> >>control algorithms in them.

I'm interested in the history of Internet congestion control; so,
I wonder:

* were admins aware that this patch would reduce your own rate and
   might make things worse for you if you're the only one who installs it?
   e.g., think of 1000 * unresponsive UDP vs. 1 * TCP - across a single
   bottleneck - in this scenario, a single unresponsive flow would be
   better off than a single TCP flow.

* Van Jacobson's paper came out in August 1988. I think that the first
   RFC which says "you MUST implement congestion control" is
   RFC 1122 - which came out October 1989. What happened in between?
   Was it just a patch flying around and word of mouth ("c'mon, install it,
   we'll all be better off")?

It all looks a bit like an Internet community type of thing to me that
couldn't work like this nowadays. Am I right?

Cheers,
Michael