Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc. 50 Moulton St. Cambridge, MA 02238
April 1983
This RFCspecifies the ARPANET 1822L Host Access Protocol, which is a sUCcessor to the existing 1822 Host Access Protocol. 1822L allows ARPANET hosts to use logical names as well as 1822's physical port locations to address each other. The RFCis also being presented as a solicitation of comments on 1822L, especially from host network software implementers and maintainers.
Note 1: The message is presented to the destination host with an 1822L leader containing the 1822L addresses of the source and destination hosts. If either address cannot be encoded as an 1822L address, then the message is not delivered and an error message is sent to the source host.
Note 2: The message is presented to the destination host with an 1822 leader containing the 1822 address of the source host.
Figure 4. Communications between different host types
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2.3 Uncontrolled Packets
Uncontrolled packets (see 1822(3.6)) present a unique problem for
the 1822L protocol. Uncontrolled packets use none of the normal
ordering and error-control mechanisms in the IMP, and do not use
the normal subnetwork connection facilities. As a result,
uncontrolled packets need to carry all of their overhead with
them, including source and destination names. If 1822L names are
used when sending an uncontrolled packet, additional information
is now required by the subnetwork when the packet is transferred
to the destination IMP. This means that less host-to-host data
can be contained in the packet than is possible between 1822
hosts.
Uncontrolled packets that are sent between 1822 hosts may contain
not more than 991 bits of data. Uncontrolled packets that are
sent to and/or from 1822L hosts are limited to 32 bits less, or
not more than 959 bits. Packets that exceed this length will
result in an error indication to the host, and the packet will
not be sent. This error indication represents an enhancement to
the previous level of service provided by the IMP, which would
simply discard an overly long uncontrolled packet without
notification.
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Other enhancements that are provided for uncontrolled packet
service are a notification to the host of any errors that are
detected by the host's IMP when it receives the packet. A host
will be notified if an uncontrolled packet contains an error in
the 1822L name specification, such as if the name is not
authorized or effective, if the remote host is unreachable (which
is indicated by none of its names being effective), if network
congestion control throttled the packet before it left the source
IMP, or for any other reason the source IMP was not able to send
the packet on its way.
In most cases, the host will not be notified if the uncontrolled
packet was lost once it was transmitted by the source IMP.
However, the IMP will attempt to notify the source host if a
logically-addressed uncontrolled packet was mistakenly sent to a
host that the source IMP thought was effective, but which turned
out to be dead or non-effective at the destination IMP. This
non-delivery notice is sent back to the source IMP as an
uncontrolled packet from the destination IMP, so the source host
is not guaranteed to receive this indication.
If the source IMP successfully receives the non-delivery notice,
then the source host will receive a type 15 (1822L Name or
Address Error), subtype 6 (down or non-effective port) message.
If the packet is resubmitted or another packet is sent to the
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same destination name, and there are no available effective
translations, then the source host will receive a type 15,
subtype 5 (no effective translations) message if the destination
name has more than one mapping; or will receive either a type 7
(Destination Host Dead) or a type 15, subtype 3 (name not
effective) message if the destination name has a single
translation.
Those enhancements to the uncontrolled packet service that are
not specific to logical addressing will be available to hosts
using 1822 as well as 1822L. However, logically-addressed
uncontrolled packets must be used in order to receive any
indication that the packet was lost once it has left the source
IMP.
2.4 Establishing Host-IMP Communications
When a host comes up on an IMP, or after there has been a break
in the communications between the host and its IMP (see
1822(3.2)), the orderly flow of messages between the host and the
IMP needs to be properly (re)established. This allows the IMP
and host to recover from most any failure in the other or in
their communications path, including a break in mid-message.
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The first messages that a host should send to its IMP are three
NOP messages. Three messages are required to insure that at
least one message will be properly read by the IMP (the first NOP
could be concatenated to a previous message if communications had
been broken in mid-stream, and the third provides redundancy for
the second). These NOPs serve several functions: they
synchronize the IMP with the host, they tell the IMP how much
padding the host requires between the message leader and its
body, and they also tell the IMP whether the host will be using
1822 or 1822L leaders.
Similarly, the IMP will send three NOPs to the host when it
detects that the host has come up. Actually, the IMP will send
six NOPs, alternating three 1822 NOPs with three 1822L NOPs.
Thus, the host will see three NOPs no matter which protocol it is
using. The NOPs will be followed by two Interface Reset
messages, one of each style. If the IMP receives a NOP from the
host while the above sequence is occurring, the IMP will only
send the remainder of the NOPs and the Interface Reset in the
proper style. The 1822 NOPs will contain the 1822 address of the
host interface, and the 1822L NOPs will contain the corresponding
1822L address.
Once the IMP and the host have sent each other the above
messages, regular communications can commence. See 1822(3.2) for
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further details concerning the ready line, host tardiness, and
other issues.
2.5 Counting RFMS When Using 1822L
When a host submits a regular message using an 1822 leader, the
IMP checks for an existing simplex virtual circuit connection
from the source host to the destination host. If such a
connection already exists, it is used. Otherwise, a new
connection from the source host port to the destination host port
is opened. In either case, there may be at most eight messages
outstanding on that connection at any one time. If a host
submits a ninth message on that connection before it receives a
reply for the first message, then the host will be blocked until
the reply is sent for the first message.
Such connections can stay open for some time, but are timed out
after three minutes of no activity, or can be closed if there is
contention for the connection blocks in either the source or
destination IMP. However, a connection will never be closed as
long as there are any outstanding messages on it. This allows a
source host to count the number of replies it has received for
messages to each destination host address in order to avoid being
blocked by submitting a ninth outstanding message on any
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connection.
When a host submits a regular message using an 1822L leader, a
similar process occurs, except that in this case, connections are
distinguished by the source name/destination name combination.
When the message is received from a host, the IMP first looks for
an open connection for that same source name/destination name
pair. If such a connection is found, then it is used, and no
further name translation is performed. If, however, no open
connection was found, then the destination name is translated,
and a connection opened to the physical host port. As long as
there are any outstanding messages on the connection it will stay
open, and it will have the same restriction that only eight
messages may be outstanding at any one time. Thus, a source host
can still count replies to avoid being blocked, but they must be
counted on a source name/destination name pair basis, instead of
just by destination host address as before.
Since connections are based on the source name as well as the
destination name, this implies that there may be more than one
open connection from physical host port A to physical host port
B, which would allow more than 8 outstanding messages
simultaneously from the first to the second port. However, for
this to occur, either the source or destination names, or both,
must differ from one connection to the next. For example, if the
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names "543" and "677" both translate to physical port 3 on IMP
51, then the host on that port could open four connections to
itself by sending messages from "543" to "543", from "543" to
"677", from "677" to "543", and from "677" to "677".
As has already been stated, the destination names in regular
messages are only translated when connections are first opened.
Once a connection is open, that connection, and its destination
physical host port, will continue to be used until it is closed.
If, in the meantime, a "better" destination host port belonging
to the same destination name became available, it would not be
used until the next time a new connection is opened to that
destination name.
2.6 1822L Name Server
There may be times when a host wants to perform its own
translations, or might need the full list of physical addresses
to which a particular name maps. For example, a connection-based
host-to-host protocol may require that the same physical host
port on a multi-homed host be used for all messages using that
host-to-host connection, and the host does not wish to trust the
IMP to always deliver messages using a destination name to the
same host port.
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In these cases, the host can submit a type 11 (Name Server
Request) message to the IMP, which requests the IMP to translate
the destination 1822L name and return a list of the addresses to
which it maps. The IMP will respond with a type 11 (Name Server
Reply) message, which contains the selection policy in use for
that name, the number of addresses to which the name maps, the
addresses themselves, and for each address, whether it is
effective and its routing distance from the IMP. See section 3.2
for a complete description of the message's contents.
Using this information, the source host can make an informed
decision on which of the physical host ports corresponding to an
1822L name to use, and can subsequently send the messages to that
port, rather than to the name.
The IMP also supports a different type of name service. A host
needs to issue a Name Declaration Message to the IMP in order to
make its names effective, but it may not wish to keep its names
in some table or file in the host. In this case, it can ask the
IMP to tell it which names it is authorized to use.
In this case, the host submits a type 12 (Port List Request)
message to the IMP, and the IMP replies with a type 12 (Port List
Reply) message. It contains, for the host port over which the
IMP received the request and sent the reply, the number of names
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that map to the port, the list of names, and whether or not each
name is effective. The host can then use this information in
order to issue the Name Declaration Message. Section 3.2
contains a complete description of the reply's contents.
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3 1822L LEADER FORMATS
The following sections describe the formats of the leaders that
precede messages between an 1822L host and its IMP. They were
designed to be as compatible with the 1822 leaders as possible.
The second, fifth, and sixth Words are identical in the two
leaders, and all of the existing functionality of the 1822
leaders has been retained. In the first word, the 1822 New
Format Flag is now also used to identify the two types of 1822L
leaders, and the Handling Type has been moved to the second byte.
The third and fourth words contain the Source and Destination
1822L Name, respectively.
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3.1 Host-to-IMP 1822L Leader Format
1 4 5 8 9 16 +--------+--------+----------------+ 1822L Unused H2I Handling Type Flag +--------+--------+----------------+ 17 20 21 22 24 25 32 +--------+-+------+----------------+ TLeader Unused RFlags Message Type C +--------+-+------+----------------+ 33 48 +----------------------------------+
+----------------+----------------+----------------+ 97 112 113 128 129 144 +-+--------------+----------------+-+--------------+ P E O # of addrs 1822L addr #1 F routing dist L F +-+--------------+----------------+-+--------------+ 145 160 161 176 +----------------+-+--------------+ E 1822L addr #2 F routine dist etc. F +----------------+-+--------------+
Figure 8. Name Server Reply Format
Type 12: Port List Reply - This is the reply to the Port
List Request host-to-IMP message. It contains the
number of names that map to this physical host port,
followed by two words per name: the first word contains
an 1822L name that maps to this port, and the second
contains either a zero or a one, signifying whether or
not that particular translation is effective. The
format is identical to the type 3 NDM Reply message
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(see figure 6).
Type 15: 1822L Name or Address Error - This message is sent
in response to a type 0 message from a host that
contained an erroneous Source Host or Destination Host
field. Its sub-types are:
0: The Source Host 1822L name is not authorized or not
effective.
1: The Source Host 1822L address does not match the
host port used to send the message.
2: The Destination Host 1822L name is not authorized.
3: The physical host to which this singly-homed
Destination Host name translated is authorized and
up, but not effective. If the host was actually
down, a type 7 message would be returned, not a
type 15.
4: The Source or Destination Host field contains a
1822L name, but the host being addressed is on a
non-C/30 IMP (see figure 4 in section 2.2.4).
5: The multi-homed Destination Host name is authorized,
but has no available effective translations.
6: A logically-addressed uncontrolled packet was sent
to a dead or non-effective host port. However, if
it is resubmitted, there may be another effective
host port to which the IMP may be able to attempt
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to send the packet.
7: Logical addressing is not in use in this network.
8-15: Unassigned.
Types 13-14,16-255: Unassigned.
Bits 33-48: Source Host:
For type 0 messages, this field contains the 1822L name or
address of the host that originated the message. All
replies to the message should be sent to the host specified
herein. For message types 5-9 and 15, this field contains
the source host field used in a previous type 0 message sent
by this host.
Bits 49-64: Destination Host:
For type 0 messages, this field contains the 1822L name or
address that the message was sent to. This allows the
destination host to detect how it was specified by the
source host. For message types 5-9 and 15, this field
contains the destination host field used in a previous type
0 message sent by this host.
Bits 65-76: Message ID:
For message types 0, 5, 7-9, and 15, this is the value
assigned by the source host to identify the message (see
section 3.1). This field is also used by message types 2
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and 6.
Bits 77-80: Sub-type:
This field is used as a modifier by message types 0-2, 5-7,
9, and 15.
Bits 81-96: Message Length:
This field is contained in type 0, 3, 11, and 12 messages
only, and is the actual length in bits of the message
(exclusive of leader, leader padding, and hardware padding)
as computed by the IMP.
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4 REFERENCES
[1] Specifications for the Interconnection of a Host and an IMP,
BBN Report 1822, December 1981 Revision.
[2] A. Malis, The ARPANET Short Blocking Feature, Request For
Comments 852, April 1983.
[3] E. C. Rosen et. al., ARPANET Routing Algorithm Improvements,
Internet Experimenter's Note 183 (also published as BBN
Report 4473, Vol. 1), August 1980, pp. 55-107.
[4] J. Postel, Assigned Numbers, Request For Comments 820,