Questions about Internet Packet Losses

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1

tli@jnx.com said:

- fixed host stacks. Using the full MTU would be a boon. Recent data
  indicates that >40% of the packets out there are 40 bytes.

One of the nice things about proxy servers and web caches is
they mask end user host stack inadequacy, and thus (I allege)
tend to increase MTUs and encourage better network utilization
(in additional to the normal benefits of caching).

Isn't it unsurpsrising that >40% of packets are small? ACKs?

Alex Bligh
Xara Networks

2

Isn't it unsurpsrising that >40% of packets are small? ACKs?

If one made the gross oversimplifying approximation that everything is
unidirectional TCP traffic, then you'd expect to see one ACK per two data
packets. Thus, we'd expect to see 33% at 40 bytes. It is the additional
7+% that's surprising.

Tony