Echo and Discard: Deamon Processes on Host 106
MIT-DMCG announces daemon processes for testing network connections.
Bressler, R.D., "Deamon Processes on Host 106", RFC 361, DOI 10.17487/RFC0361, July 1972, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc361>.
@misc{rfc361,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 361,
howpublished = {RFC 361},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC0361},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc361},
author = {R.D. Bressler},
title = {{Deamon Processes on Host 106}},
pagetotal = 1,
year = 1972,
month = jul,
} RFC text
Network Working Group Bob Bressler
Request for Comments: 361 MIT-DMCG
NIC: 10603 5 July 1972
In response to RFCs 347 and 348, ECHO and DISCARD, MIT-DMCG
(Host 106) now has deamon processes that will respond to RFCs on
sockets 7 and 9.
A few administrative type decisions were made, to which I
would like to solicit comments.
First, if our machine is too full to support another deamon
process, the pro-offered connection will be refused; that is, a
CLS will be sent in response to the RFC on socket 7 or 9.
Second, if no activity takes place for two consecutive minutes
(no characters received on input, or output blocked waiting for
allocation), the connection will be aborted.
Does anyone see the need or desirability for the third
service in this set: a random character generator? Many systems
provide programs like "TTYTST" available over the standard login
connection, but there would be no difficulty in creating a server
connection (like ECHO) offering just this limited service. I'm
sure that it would be useful for new NCPs, as well as statistics
gathering.
[ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry ]
[ into the online RFC archives by BBN Corp. under the ]
[ direction of Alex McKenzie. 1/97 ]
AI ELI5
On this page
§1Introduction
RFC 361 is a brief announcement from Bob Bressler at MIT-DMCG (MIT's Distributed Computing Message Group) that Host 106 now offers the Echo and Discard test services defined in RFCs 347 and 348. These services are accessible on sockets 7 and 9.
MIT has set up two testing services on the network that anyone can use to check if their connection works.
§2Service Behavior
The RFC describes two administrative choices for how the services behave. First, if the host is too full to support another daemon process, it will refuse the connection by sending a CLS (close) message. Second, if no activity occurs for two consecutive minutes (no data received or output blocked), the connection will be aborted.
If the machine is too busy, it says no. If nothing happens for two minutes, it hangs up to save resources.
§3Possible Future Services
Bressler asks the network community whether a third service would be useful: a random character generator. He notes that many systems offer such a utility on their login connections, but putting it on its own network port would let anyone use it without logging in. He suggests it would be useful for testing new NCP implementations and for gathering network statistics.
The author asks if people would like a third service that just sends random letters. This would help test software and collect data about how networks work.