old-www/LDP/nag/node181.html

65 lines
3.2 KiB
HTML

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML 2.0//EN">
<!--Converted with LaTeX2HTML 96.1-c (Feb 29, 1996) by Nikos Drakos (nikos@cbl.leeds.ac.uk), CBLU, University of Leeds -->
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Protocol Overview</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY LANG="EN">
<A HREF="node1.html"><IMG WIDTH=65 HEIGHT=24 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="contents" SRC="contents_motif.gif"></A> <BR>
<B> Next:</B> <A HREF="node182.html">Tuning the Transmission Protocol</A>
<B>Up:</B> <A HREF="node180.html">UUCP Low-Level Protocols</A>
<B> Previous:</B> <A HREF="node180.html">UUCP Low-Level Protocols</A>
<BR> <P>
<H2><A NAME="SECTION0014610000">Protocol Overview</A></H2>
<P>
<A NAME="6452"></A>
<P>
As UUCP is used over different types of connections, such as serial
lines or TCP, or even X.25, specific low-level protocols are needed. In
addition, several implementations of UUCP have introduced different
protocols that do roughly the same thing.
<P>
Protocols can be divided into two categories: streaming and
packet-oriented protocols. Protocols of the latter variety transfer a
file as a whole, possibly computing a checksum over it. This is nearly
free of any overhead, but requires a reliable connection, because any
error will cause the whole file to be retransmitted. These protocols
are commonly used over TCP connections, but are not suitable for use
over telephone lines. Although modern modems do quite a good job at
error correction, they are not perfect, nor is there any error
detection between your computer and the modem.
<P>
On the other hand, packet protocols split up the file into several
chunks of equal size. Each packet is sent and received separately, a
checksum is computed, and an acknowledgement is returned to the sender.
To make this more efficient, sliding-window protocols were invented,
which allow for a limited number (a window) of outstanding
acknoledgements at any time. This greatly reduces the amount of time
uucico has to wait during a transmission. Still, the relatively
large overhead compared to a streaming protocol make packet protocols
inefficient for use over TCP.
<P>
The width of the data path also makes a difference. Sometimes, sending
eight-bit characters over a serial connection is impossible, for
instance if the connection goes through a stupid terminal server. In
this case, characters with the eighth bit set have to be quoted on
transmission. When you transmit eight-bit characters over a seven-bit
connection, they have to be Under worst-case assumptions, this doubles
the amount of data to be transmitted, although compression done by the
hardware may compensate for this. Lines that can transmit arbitrary
eight-bit characters are usually called eight-bit clean. This is the
case for all TCP connections, as well as for most modem connections.
<P>
The following protocols are available with Taylor UUCP 1.04:
<P>
<P><P><HR><A HREF="node1.html"><IMG WIDTH=65 HEIGHT=24 ALIGN=BOTTOM ALT="contents" SRC="contents_motif.gif"></A> <BR>
<B> Next:</B> <A HREF="node182.html">Tuning the Transmission Protocol</A>
<B>Up:</B> <A HREF="node180.html">UUCP Low-Level Protocols</A>
<B> Previous:</B> <A HREF="node180.html">UUCP Low-Level Protocols</A>
<P><ADDRESS>
<I>Andrew Anderson <BR>
Thu Mar 7 23:22:06 EST 1996</I>
</ADDRESS>
</BODY>
</HTML>