Chapter 3

Transport
Layer
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Computer Networking: A
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Top-Down Approach
Thanks and enjoy! JFK/KWR 8th edition
Jim Kurose, Keith Ross
All material copyright 1996-2020
J.F Kurose and K.W. Ross, All Rights Reserved Pearson, 2020
Transport Layer: 3-1
Transport services and protocols
application
transport

 provide logical communication mobile

network
network
data link
physical

between application processes national or global ISP

running on different hosts

log
ica
le
 transport protocols actions in end

n d-
systems:

e nd
local or

tra
• sender: breaks application messages regional ISP

nsp
into segments, passes to network layer

ort
home network content
• receiver: reassembles segments into provider
network
messages, passes to application layer application
transport
datacenter
network
network

 two transport protocols available to data link

physical

Internet applications enterprise

network
• TCP, UDP
Transport Layer: 3-2
Multiplexing/demultiplexing
multiplexing at sender: demultiplexing at receiver:
handle data from multiple use header info to deliver
sockets, add transport header received segments to correct
(later used for demultiplexing) socket

application

application P1 P2 application socket

P3 transport P4
process
transport network transport
network link network
link physical link
physical physical

Transport Layer: 3-3

 Connectionless demultiplexing: an example
DatagramSocket
serverSocket = new
DatagramSocket
DatagramSocket mySocket2 = DatagramSocket mySocket1 =
new DatagramSocket (6428); new DatagramSocket (5775);
(9157); application
application P1 application
P3 P4
transport
transport transport
network
network link network
link physical link
physical physical

source port: 6428 source port: ?

dest port: 9157 dest port: ?

source port: 9157 source port: ?

dest port: 6428 dest port: ?
Transport Layer: 3-4
Connection-oriented demultiplexing: example
application
application P4 P5 P6 application
P1 P2 P3
transport
transport transport
network
network link network
link physical link
physical server: IP physical
address B

host: IP source IP,port: B,80 host: IP

address A dest IP,port: A,9157 source IP,port: C,5775 address C
dest IP,port: B,80
source IP,port: A,9157
dest IP, port: B,80
source IP,port: C,9157
dest IP,port: B,80
Three segments, all destined to IP address: B,
dest port: 80 are demultiplexed to different sockets
Transport Layer: 3-5
Chapter 3: roadmap
 Transport-layer services
 Multiplexing and demultiplexing
 Connectionless transport: UDP
 Principles of reliable data transfer
 Connection-oriented transport: TCP
 Principles of congestion control
 TCP congestion control
 Evolution of transport-layer
functionality
Transport Layer: 3-6
UDP: User Datagram Protocol
 “no frills,” “bare bones”
Why is there a UDP?
Internet transport protocol  no connection
establishment (which can
 “best effort” service, UDP add RTT delay)
segments may be:  simple: no connection state
• lost at sender, receiver
• delivered out-of-order to app  small header size
 connectionless:  no congestion control
 UDP can blast away as fast as
• no handshaking between UDP desired!
sender, receiver  can function in the face of
• each UDP segment handled congestion
independently of others
Transport Layer: 3-7
UDP: Transport Layer Actions

SNMP client SNMP server

application application

transport transport
(UDP) (UDP)

network (IP) network (IP)

link link

physical physical

Transport Layer: 3-8

UDP: Transport Layer Actions

SNMP client SNMP server

UDP sender actions:
application  is passed an application- SNMP msg
application
layer message
transport  determines UDP segment UDPhtransport
UDP h SNMP msg

(UDP) header fields values (UDP)

network (IP)
 creates UDP segment network (IP)

link
 passes segment to IP link

physical physical

Transport Layer: 3-9

UDP: Transport Layer Actions

SNMP client SNMP server

UDP receiver actions:
application  receives segment from IP application
 checks UDP checksum
transport transport
SNMP msg header value
(UDP)  extracts application-layer (UDP)

network
UDP h SNMP(IP)
msg message network (IP)
 demultiplexes message up
link to application via socket link

physical physical

Transport Layer: 3-10

UDP segment header
32 bits
source port # dest port #
length checksum

application length, in bytes of

data UDP segment,
(payload) including header

data to/from
UDP segment format application layer

Transport Layer: 3-11

UDP checksum
Goal: detect errors (i.e., flipped bits) in transmitted segment
1st number 2nd number sum

Transmitted: 5 6 11

Received: 4 6 11

receiver-computed
checksum
= sender-computed
checksum (as received)

Transport Layer: 3-12

UDP checksum
Goal: detect errors (i.e., flipped bits) in transmitted segment
sender: receiver:
 treat contents of UDP  compute checksum of received
segment (including UDP header segment
fields and IP addresses) as
sequence of 16-bit integers  check if computed checksum equals
 checksum: addition (one’s checksum field value:
complement sum) of segment • Not equal - error detected
content • Equal - no error detected. But maybe
 checksum value put into errors nonetheless? More later ….
UDP checksum field
Transport Layer: 3-13
Internet checksum: an example
example: add two 16-bit integers
1110011001100110
1101010101010101
wraparound 11011101110111011

sum 1011101110111100
checksum 0100010001000011

Note: when adding numbers, a carryout from the most significant bit needs to be
added to the result

* Check out the online interactive exercises for more examples: h ttp://gaia.cs.umass.edu/kurose_ross/interactive/
Transport Layer: 3-14
Internet checksum: weak protection!
example: add two 16-bit integers
01
1110011001100110 10
1101010101010101
wraparound 11011101110111011 Even though
numbers have
sum 1011101110111100 changed (bit
flips), no change
checksum 0100010001000011 in checksum!

Transport Layer: 3-15

Summary: UDP
 “no frills” protocol:
• segments may be lost, delivered out of order
• best effort service: “send and hope for the best”
 UDP has its plusses:
• no setup/handshaking needed (no RTT incurred)
• can function when network service is compromised
• helps with reliability (checksum)
 build additional functionality on top of UDP in application layer
(e.g., HTTP/3)
Chapter 3: roadmap
 Transport-layer services
 Multiplexing and demultiplexing
 Connectionless transport: UDP
 Principles of reliable data transfer
 Connection-oriented transport: TCP
 Principles of congestion control
 TCP congestion control
 Evolution of transport-layer
functionality
Transport Layer: 3-17
 Principles of reliable data transfer

sending receiving
process process
application data data
transport
reliable channel

reliable service abstraction

Transport Layer: 3-18

 Principles of reliable data transfer

sending receiving sending receiving

process process process process
application data data application data data
transport transport
reliable channel
sender-side of receiver-side
reliable service abstraction reliable data of reliable data
transfer protocol transfer protocol

transport
network
unreliable channel

reliable service implementation

Transport Layer: 3-19

Principles of reliable data transfer

sending receiving
process process
application data data
transport

sender-side of receiver-side
Complexity of reliable data reliable data
transfer protocol
of reliable data
transfer protocol
transfer protocol will depend
(strongly) on characteristics of transport
network
unreliable channel (lose, unreliable channel
corrupt, reorder data?)
reliable service implementation

Transport Layer: 3-20

Principles of reliable data transfer

sending receiving
process process
application data data
transport

sender-side of receiver-side
reliable data of reliable data
Sender, receiver do not know transfer protocol transfer protocol
the “state” of each other, e.g.,
was a message received? transport
network
 unless communicated via a unreliable channel

message
reliable service implementation

Transport Layer: 3-21

 Reliable data transfer protocol (rdt): interfaces
rdt_send(): called from above, deliver_data(): called by rdt to
(e.g., by app.). Passed data to deliver data to upper layer
deliver to receiver upper layer
sending receiving
process process
rdt_send() data data
deliver_data()

sender-side data receiver-side

implementation of implementation of
rdt reliable data packet rdt reliable data
transfer protocol transfer protocol

udt_send() Header data Header data rdt_rcv()

unreliable channel
udt_send(): called by rdt rdt_rcv(): called when packet
to transfer packet over Bi-directional communication over arrives on receiver side of
unreliable channel to receiver unreliable channel channel
Transport Layer: 3-22
Reliable data transfer: getting started
We will:
 incrementally develop sender, receiver sides of reliable data transfer
protocol (rdt)
 consider only unidirectional data transfer
• but control info will flow in both directions!
 use finite state machines (FSM) to specify sender, receiver
event causing state transition
actions taken on state transition
state: when in this “state”
next state uniquely state state
determined by next 1 event
event 2
actions

Transport Layer: 3-23

rdt1.0: reliable transfer over a reliable channel
 underlying channel perfectly reliable
• no bit errors
• no loss of packets

 separate FSMs for sender, receiver:

• sender sends data into underlying channel
• receiver reads data from underlying channel

Wait for rdt_send(data) Wait for rdt_rcv(packet)

sender call from packet = make_pkt(data) receiver call from extract (packet,data)
above udt_send(packet) below deliver_data(data)

Transport Layer: 3-24

rdt2.0: channel with bit errors
 underlying channel may flip bits in packet
• checksum (e.g., Internet checksum) to detect bit errors
 the question: how to recover from errors?

How do humans recover from “errors” during conversation?

Transport Layer: 3-25

rdt2.0: channel with bit errors
 underlying channel may flip bits in packet
• checksum to detect bit errors
 the question: how to recover from errors?
• acknowledgements (ACKs): receiver explicitly tells sender that pkt
received OK
• negative acknowledgements (NAKs): receiver explicitly tells sender
that pkt had errors
• sender retransmits pkt on receipt of NAK

stop and wait

sender sends one packet, then waits for receiver response
Transport Layer: 3-26
rdt2.0: FSM specifications
rdt_send(data)
snkpkt = make_pkt(data, checksum)
udt_send(sndpkt)
rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) &&
Wait for Wait for isNAK(rcvpkt)
sender call from ACK or udt_send(sndpkt) rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) && corrupt(rcvpkt)
above NAK
udt_send(NAK)

rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) && isACK(rcvpkt)

Wait for
L call from receiver
below

rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) && notcorrupt(rcvpkt)

extract(rcvpkt,data)
deliver_data(data)
udt_send(ACK)

Transport Layer: 3-27

rdt2.0: FSM specification
rdt_send(data)
snkpkt = make_pkt(data, checksum)
udt_send(sndpkt)
rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) &&
Wait for Wait for isNAK(rcvpkt)
sender call from ACK or udt_send(sndpkt) rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) && corrupt(rcvpkt)
above NAK
udt_send(NAK)

rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) && isACK(rcvpkt)

Wait for
L call from receiver
below

Note: “state” of receiver (did the receiver get my

rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) && notcorrupt(rcvpkt)
message correctly?) isn’t known to sender unless
extract(rcvpkt,data)
somehow communicated from receiver to sender deliver_data(data)
 that’s why we need a protocol! udt_send(ACK)

Transport Layer: 3-28

rdt2.0: operation with no errors
rdt_send(data)
snkpkt = make_pkt(data, checksum)
udt_send(sndpkt)
rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) &&
Wait for Wait for isNAK(rcvpkt)
sender call from ACK or udt_send(sndpkt) rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) && corrupt(rcvpkt)
above NAK
udt_send(NAK)

rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) && isACK(rcvpkt)

Wait for
L call from receiver
below

rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) && notcorrupt(rcvpkt)

extract(rcvpkt,data)
deliver_data(data)
udt_send(ACK)

Transport Layer: 3-29

rdt2.0: corrupted packet scenario
rdt_send(data)
snkpkt = make_pkt(data, checksum)
udt_send(sndpkt)
rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) &&
Wait for Wait for isNAK(rcvpkt)
sender call from ACK or udt_send(sndpkt) rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) && corrupt(rcvpkt)
above NAK
udt_send(NAK)

rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) && isACK(rcvpkt)

Wait for
L call from receiver
below

rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) && notcorrupt(rcvpkt)

extract(rcvpkt,data)
deliver_data(data)
udt_send(ACK)

Transport Layer: 3-30

rdt2.0 has a fatal flaw!
what happens if ACK/NAK handling duplicates:
corrupted?  sender retransmits current pkt if
 sender doesn’t know what ACK/NAK corrupted
happened at receiver!
 sender adds sequence number to
 can’t just retransmit: possible each pkt
duplicate
 receiver discards (doesn’t deliver
up) duplicate pkt
stop and wait
sender sends one packet, then
waits for receiver response
Transport Layer: 3-31
rdt2.1: sender, handling garbled ACK/NAKs
rdt_send(data)
sndpkt = make_pkt(0, data, checksum)
udt_send(sndpkt) rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) &&
(corrupt(rcvpkt) ||
Wait for Wait for isNAK(rcvpkt) )
call 0 from ACK or
NAK 0 udt_send(sndpkt)
above
rdt_rcv(rcvpkt)
rdt_rcv(rcvpkt)
&& notcorrupt(rcvpkt) &&
&& notcorrupt(rcvpkt)
isACK(rcvpkt)
&& isACK(rcvpkt)
L
L
Wait for Wait for
ACK or call 1 from
rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) NAK 1 above
&& (corrupt(rcvpkt) ||
isNAK(rcvpkt) ) rdt_send(data)

udt_send(sndpkt) sndpkt = make_pkt(1, data, checksum)

udt_send(sndpkt)

Transport Layer: 3-32

rdt2.1: receiver, handling garbled ACK/NAKs
rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) && notcorrupt(rcvpkt)
&& has_seq0(rcvpkt)
extract(rcvpkt,data)
deliver_data(data)
sndpkt = make_pkt(ACK, chksum)
udt_send(sndpkt)
rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) && rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) &&
(corrupt(rcvpkt) (corrupt(rcvpkt)
sndpkt = make_pkt(NAK, chksum) sndpkt = make_pkt(NAK, chksum)
udt_send(sndpkt) udt_send(sndpkt)
Wait for Wait for
rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) && 0 from 1 from rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) &&
not corrupt(rcvpkt) && below below not corrupt(rcvpkt) &&
has_seq1(rcvpkt) has_seq0(rcvpkt)
sndpkt = make_pkt(ACK, chksum) sndpkt = make_pkt(ACK, chksum)
udt_send(sndpkt) udt_send(sndpkt)
rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) && notcorrupt(rcvpkt)
&& has_seq1(rcvpkt)

extract(rcvpkt,data)
deliver_data(data)
sndpkt = make_pkt(ACK, chksum)
udt_send(sndpkt)

Transport Layer: 3-33

rdt2.1: discussion
sender: receiver:
 seq # added to pkt  must check if received packet
 two seq. #s (0,1) will suffice. is duplicate
Why? • state indicates whether 0 or 1 is
expected pkt seq #
 must check if received ACK/NAK
 note: receiver can not know if
corrupted
its last ACK/NAK received OK
 twice as many states at sender
• state must “remember” whether
“expected” pkt should have seq #
of 0 or 1

Transport Layer: 3-34

rdt2.2: a NAK-free protocol
 same functionality as rdt2.1, using ACKs only
 instead of NAK, receiver sends ACK for last pkt received OK
• receiver must explicitly include seq # of pkt being ACKed
 duplicate ACK at sender results in same action as NAK:
retransmit current pkt

As we will see, TCP uses this approach to be NAK-free

Transport Layer: 3-35

rdt3.0: channels with errors and loss
New channel assumption: underlying channel can also lose
packets (data, ACKs)
• checksum, sequence #s, ACKs, retransmissions will be of help …
but not quite enough

Q: How do humans handle lost sender-to-

receiver words in conversation?

Transport Layer: 3-36

rdt3.0: channels with errors and loss
Approach: sender waits “reasonable” amount of time for ACK
 retransmits if no ACK received in this time
 if pkt (or ACK) just delayed (not lost):
• retransmission will be duplicate, but seq #s already handles this!
• receiver must specify seq # of packet being ACKed
 use countdown timer to interrupt after “reasonable” amount of
time
timeout

Transport Layer: 3-37

rdt3.0 sender
rdt_send(data)
sndpkt = make_pkt(0, data, checksum)
udt_send(sndpkt)
start_timer

Wait for Wait

call 0 from for
above ACK0
rdt_rcv(rcvpkt)
&& notcorrupt(rcvpkt) rdt_rcv(rcvpkt)
&& isACK(rcvpkt,1) && notcorrupt(rcvpkt)
stop_timer && isACK(rcvpkt,0)
stop_timer
Wait Wait for
for call 1 from
ACK1 above

rdt_send(data)
sndpkt = make_pkt(1, data, checksum)
udt_send(sndpkt)
start_timer

Transport Layer: 3-38

rdt3.0 sender
rdt_send(data)
rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) &&
sndpkt = make_pkt(0, data, checksum) ( corrupt(rcvpkt) ||
udt_send(sndpkt) isACK(rcvpkt,1) )
rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) start_timer udt_send(sndpkt)
L Wait for Wait
for timeout
call 0 from
ACK0 udt_send(sndpkt)
above
start_timer
rdt_rcv(rcvpkt)
&& notcorrupt(rcvpkt) rdt_rcv(rcvpkt)
&& isACK(rcvpkt,1) && notcorrupt(rcvpkt)
stop_timer && isACK(rcvpkt,0)
stop_timer
Wait Wait for
timeout for call 1 from
udt_send(sndpkt) ACK1 above
start_timer rdt_rcv(rcvpkt)
rdt_send(data) L
rdt_rcv(rcvpkt) &&
sndpkt = make_pkt(1, data, checksum)
( corrupt(rcvpkt) || udt_send(sndpkt)
isACK(rcvpkt,0) ) start_timer
udt_send(sndpkt)

Transport Layer: 3-39

rdt3.0 in action
sender receiver sender receiver
send pkt0 pkt0 send pkt0 pkt0
rcv pkt0 rcv pkt0
ack0 send ack0 ack0 send ack0
rcv ack0 rcv ack0
send pkt1 pkt1 send pkt1 pkt1
rcv pkt1 X
loss
ack1 send ack1
rcv ack1
send pkt0 pkt0
rcv pkt0 timeout
ack0 send ack0 resend pkt1 pkt1
rcv pkt1
ack1 send ack1
rcv ack1
send pkt0 pkt0
(a) no loss rcv pkt0
ack0 send ack0

(b) packet loss

Transport Layer: 3-40
rdt3.0 in action
sender receiver
sender receiver send pkt0
pkt0
rcv pkt0
send pkt0 pkt0 send ack0
ack0
rcv pkt0 rcv ack0
ack0 send ack0 send pkt1 pkt1
rcv ack0 rcv pkt1
send pkt1 pkt1 send ack1
rcv pkt1 ack1
ack1 send ack1
X timeout
loss resend pkt1
pkt1 rcv pkt1
timeout
resend pkt1 pkt1
rcv pkt1 rcv ack1 (detect duplicate)
send pkt0 pkt0 send ack1
(detect duplicate)
ack1 send ack1 ack1 rcv pkt0
rcv ack1 rcv ack1 send ack0
send pkt0 pkt0 (ignore) ack0
rcv pkt0
ack0 send ack0 pkt1

(c) ACK loss (d) premature timeout/ delayed ACK

Transport Layer: 3-41
Performance of rdt3.0 (stop-and-wait)
 U sender: utilization – fraction of time sender busy sending

 example: 1 Gbps link, 15 ms prop. delay, 8000 bit packet

• time to transmit packet into channel:
L 8000 bits
Dtrans = R = = 8 microsecs
109 bits/sec

Transport Layer: 3-42

rdt3.0: stop-and-wait operation
sender receiver
first packet bit transmitted, t = 0

first packet bit arrives

RTT last packet bit arrives, send ACK

ACK arrives, send next

packet, t = RTT + L / R

Transport Layer: 3-43

rdt3.0: stop-and-wait operation
sender receiver

L/R L/R
Usender =
RTT + L / R
.008 RTT
=
30.008
= 0.00027

 rdt 3.0 protocol performance stinks!

 Protocol limits performance of underlying infrastructure (channel)

Transport Layer: 3-44

rdt3.0: pipelined protocols operation
pipelining: sender allows multiple, “in-flight”, yet-to-be-acknowledged
packets
• range of sequence numbers must be increased
• buffering at sender and/or receiver

Transport Layer: 3-45

Pipelining: increased utilization
sender receiver
first packet bit transmitted, t = 0
last bit transmitted, t = L / R

first packet bit arrives

RTT last packet bit arrives, send ACK
last bit of 2nd packet arrives, send ACK
last bit of 3rd packet arrives, send ACK
ACK arrives, send next
packet, t = RTT + L / R
3-packet pipelining increases
utilization by a factor of 3!

U 3L / R .0024
sender = = = 0.00081
RTT + L / R 30.008

Transport Layer: 3-46