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TCP Maximum Segment Size (MSS) and Relationship to IP Datagram Size
(Page 2 of 3)
Maximum Segment Size Selection
The selection of the MSS is based
on the need to balance various competing performance and implementation
issues in the transmission of data on TCP/IP networks. The main TCP
standard, RFC 793, doesn't discuss MSS very much, which opened the potential
for confusion on how the parameter should be used. RFC 879 was published
a couple of years after the TCP standard to clarify this parameter and
the issues surrounding it. Some issues with MSS are fairly mundane;
for example, certain devices are limited in the amount of space they
have for buffers to hold TCP segments, and therefore may wish to limit
segment size to a relatively small value. In general, though, the MSS
must be chosen by balancing two competing performance issues:
- Overhead Management: The TCP header takes
up 20 bytes of data (or more if options are used); the IP header also
uses 20 or more bytes. This means that between them a minimum of 40
bytes are needed for headers, all of which is non-data overhead.
If we set the MSS too low, this results in very inefficient use of bandwidth.
For example, suppose we set it to 40; if we did, a maximum
of 50% of each segment could actually be data; the rest would just be
headers. Many segment datagrams would be even worse in terms of efficiency.
- IP Fragmentation: TCP segments will be
packaged into IP datagrams. As we saw in the section on IP, datagrams
have their own size limit issues: the matter of the
maximum transmission unit (MTU) of an underlying network.
If a TCP segment is too large, it will lead to an IP datagram is too
large to be sent without fragmentation. Fragmentation reduces efficiency
and increases the chances of part of a TCP segment being lost, resulting
in the entire segment needing to be retransmitted.
TCP Default Maximum Segment Size
The solution to these two competing
issues was to establish a default MSS for TCP that was as large as possible
while avoiding fragmentation for most transmitted segments. This was
computed by starting with the minimum MTU for IP networks of 576. All
networks are required to be able to handle an IP datagram of this size
without fragmenting. From this number, we subtract 20 bytes for the
TCP header and 20 for the IP header, leaving 536 bytes. This is the
standard MSS for TCP.
The selection of this value was a
compromise of sorts. When this number is used, it means that most
TCP segments will be sent unfragmented across an IP internetwork. However,
if any TCP or IP options are used, this will cause the minimum MTU of
576 to be exceeded and fragmentation to happen. Still, it makes more
sense to allow some segments to be fragmented rather than use a much
smaller MSS to ensure that none are ever fragmented. If we chose, say,
an MSS of 400, we would probably never have fragmentation, but we'd
lower the data/header ratio from 536:40 (93% data) to 400:40 (91% data)
for all segments.
Key Concept: TCP is designed to restrict the size of the segments it sends to a certain maximum limit, to cut down on the likelihood that segments will need to be fragmented for transmission at the IP level. The TCP maximum segment size (MSS) specifies the maximum number of bytes in the TCP segments Data field, regardless of any other factors that influence segment size. The default MSS for TCP is 536, which results from taking the minimum IP MTU of 576 and subtracting 20 bytes each for the IP and TCP headers. |
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Version 3.0 - Version Date: September 20, 2005
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