Subject: [multipathtcp] Document Action: 'MPTCP Application Interface Considerations' to Informational RFC (draft-ietf-mptcp-api-07.txt)

From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 06:16:30 -0800

The IESG has approved the following document:
- 'MPTCP Application Interface Considerations'
  (draft-ietf-mptcp-api-07.txt) as Informational RFC

This document is the product of the Multipath TCP Working Group.

The IESG contact persons are Wesley Eddy and Martin Stiemerling.

A URL of this Internet Draft is:
http://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-mptcp-api/

Technical Summary

  Multipath TCP (MPTCP) adds the capability of using multiple paths to
  a regular TCP session.  Even though it is designed to be totally
  backward compatible to applications, the data transport differs
  compared to regular TCP, and there are several additional degrees of
  freedom that applications may wish to exploit.  This document
  summarizes the impact that MPTCP may have on applications, such as
  changes in performance.  Furthermore, it discusses compatibility
  issues of MPTCP in combination with non-MPTCP-aware applications.
  Finally, the document describes a basic application interface which
  is a simple extension of TCP's interface for MPTCP-aware
  applications. 

Working Group Summary

The document was not particularly controversial. There was very good consensus in the WG about the document. The document has been stable for quite a while, since it was decided to advance it in parallel with the MPTCP protocol. 

Document Quality

The dcoument has been reviewed within the WG. Michael Tüxen (SCTP author) provided an expert review. There was also a WG last call, which resulted in some clarifications.
An implementation of the protocol is publicly available, and other implementations are in progress. The API for MPTCP-aware applications has not been implemented to our knowledge.

Personnel

The document shepherd is Philip Eardley. The Responsible Area Director is Wes Eddy.