TCP Congestion Control
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M. Allman, V. Paxson, E. Blanton · 2009-09
Abstract
RFC 5681 specifies the TCP congestion control algorithms: slow start, congestion avoidance, fast retransmit, and fast recovery. These algorithms detect network congestion through packet loss signals and adapt the sending rate to prevent congestion collapse while maintaining fair sharing of available bandwidth.
Why This RFC Matters
TCP congestion control is one of the great success stories of internet engineering. In 1986, the internet suffered its first 'congestion collapse,' where throughput dropped by a factor of 1,000 on some paths. Van Jacobson's congestion control algorithms, formalized through a series of RFCs culminating in RFC 5681, rescued the internet by giving TCP the ability to sense and respond to congestion without any explicit network signals. The slow-start and AIMD (Additive Increase, Multiplicative Decrease) mechanisms described here became the foundation for all subsequent congestion control research, including CUBIC (RFC 8312), BBR, and the congestion control built into QUIC.