Performance Implications of Link Characteristics BOF (pilc) Thursday, March 18 at 0900-1130 =============================== Chair: Vern Paxson DESCRIPTION: The Internet network-layer and transport-layer protocols are designed to accommodate a very wide range of networking technologies and characteristics. Nevertheless, experience has shown that the particular properties of different network links can have a significant impact on the performance of Internet protocols operating over those links, and on the performance of connections along paths that include such links. This is especially of concern to the wireless networking community. This BOF will hone a charter for a PILC working group. In the current draft charter, the PILC working group will produce several Informational/BCP documents. The first will discuss considerations for link-layer designers from the perspective of best supporting existing IETF protocols. The second will discuss the capabilities, limitations and pitfalls of "performance enhancing proxies" (PEPs), that is, active network elements that modify or splice end-to-end flows in an attempt to enhance the performance they attain in the face of particular link characteristics. The remaining documents will each discuss the impact and mitigations for a problematic link-layer characteristic (or group of closely related characteristics). All documents will identify which of their considerations remain research topics versus which are established as advanced development. Research topics will be explictly flagged as not part of any recommendations. The working group will also serve as a forum for discussing possible modifications to IETF protocols to improve performance in environments with problematic link characteristics - however, not to the detriment of performance and stability in the general Internet, nor to undermine existing security models. AGENDA: Context (10 minutes) Review and discussion of draft charter (50 minutes) Review and discussion of draft-montenegro-pilc-ltn-00 (30 minutes) Prioritization and coralling of volunteers for documents (30 minutes)