ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review · 1986 · 117 citations · 4 references
ComputingComputer ScienceComputer SystemsDistributed SystemsFault-tolerant ComputingFault-tolerant SystemsCongestion ControlFault-tolerant CommunicationReal-time Communication ProtocolsReliable Distributed SystemsResponse Time AnalysisHigh PerformanceRetransmission MechanismsRetransmission ProtocolsTimeout Mechanisms
Repeated observation of TCP retransmission timer problems stimulated investigation into the roles and limitations of timers. Timers are indispensable tools in building up reliable distributed systems. However, as the experience with the TCP retransmission timer has shown, timers have intrinsic limitations in offering optimal performance. Any timeout based action is a guess based on incomplete information, and as such is bound to be non-optimal. We conclude that, if we aim at high performance, we should use external events as a first line of defense against failures, and depend on timers only in cases where external notification has failed.
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