1. How Applications (Will Hopefully Soon) Use the Internet
Michael Welzl
Max == 60, TU Darmstadt

5. Valuable??
Original Max typo from 1999 !

7. Layering is broken in the Internet
node A
node B
e.g. HTTP
Application Layer
Transport Layer
entity
UDP
TCP
 Applications expect precisely the behavior of TCP and UDP
 Routers expect to see precisely TCP or UDP (sometimes with even more limitations)
 OSSIFICATION

8. Transport layer development
Computer, 30 years ago
A program that sends data over the Internet, 30 years ago (using Berkeley sockets)

9. Transport layer development
Computer, today
A program that sends data over the Internet, today (using Berkeley sockets)

10. More than just sockets... Previous example: Berkeley sockets
Today, applications use many different APIs
These higher-layer systems use sockets  can only offer the services of TCP and UDP
A reliable byte stream
Unreliable packet (“datagram”) transmission
It’s a way of thinking about communication !

11. ... and it’s from the 80s !
Reliable byte stream, TCP
Datagram, UDP

12. What about...
Priorities?
Among your own flows, and between yours and others?
Careful “do not disturb anybody” background (“scavenger”) communication?
Intelligent use of multiple network interfaces?
Maybe using data even when a checksum fails?
Codecs can handle that, but UDP will throw away all your data
Using protocol features that yield lower latency?
Maybe trade latency against bandwidth?
Control the send buffer?

13. Example: unordered message delivery
Some applications can accept data chunks out of order, even when requiring reliability
TCP causes Head-Of-Line (HOL) blocking delay
TCP receiver buffer
Chunk 2
Chunk 3
Chunk 4
Chunk 1
App waits in vain!
Some protocols can deliver data out of order (e.g. SCTP)
If such a protocol is not available: fine to use TCP!
in-order delivery is correct! Just slower
... BUT: unless an application asks for it, we can NEVER hand over data chunks in the wrong order.  This service needs to be in ALL APIs ! (not just socket level)

14. Solving the problem
Unordered reliable message delivery is only one example...
What is the minimum set of transport services that we “must” make available everywhere for them to become usable?

15. Bottom-up method to derive a minimum set of transport services
IETF Transport Services (TAPS) Working Group
Survey of services provided by transport protocols – RFC 8095 (54 pages)
In-depth analysis of 30+ RFCs: TCP, MPTCP, UDP, UDP-Lite, SCTP, LEDBAT (2 Internet-drafts, 70 pages)
Derivation of a minimum set: from 2), keep only services that require application-specific knowledge; do not prohibit falling back to TCP; resolve some resulting peculiarities (1 Internet-draft, 44 pages)

16. Result (latest version): high-level view
Flow creation and flow grouping
Most configuration features only configure a group (e.g., can’t configure timeout for an SCTP stream only)
Should use configuration early, ideally before connecting
Send-before-connect
Could also be implemented as a parameter to “connect”
Specify “idempotent data” for extra-fast transmission
Limited connect / listen / close / abort semantics
Connect may not invoke accept!
No half-closed connections

17. Result (latest version): high-level view /2
Send messages, receive bytestream
Messages stay intact, but may be (based on sender wish) reordered or dropped (configurable reliability)
Receiver must be aware (detect boundaries)
Be informed about sender buffer running dry
Late decision about choice of data to send
Configure: per-flow priorities, network-wide priorities, timeout, authentication, checksums
Some queries, e.g. related to packet sizes

18. What’s next? How real is this?
Apple now contributes to the IETF TAPS WG
Interested in this open standard because of TAPS
project implements a TAPS++ system
a cleaner Internet transport layer; avoids re-inventing the wheel!
Partners: several Universities, Mozilla, EMC, Cisco, ..
Already works! e.g., demo shown with Firefox
Nice research tool – e.g. lets you access features of SCTP, MPTCP, .. now even with Python bindings
"NEAT: A Platform- and Protocol-Independent Internet Transport API", IEEE Communications Magazine 55 (6), 2017.

19. Thank you!
Questions?