Is this specialized upstream TCP ACK handling, particularly the
prioritization a general recommendation in all access technologies? 
Perhaps it should be, since otherwise up and downstream TCP flows interfere
in a crazy queue oscillation that is typically misinterpreted by AQMs.
Is this topic addressed in some RFC already?

Wolfram


> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> Von: aqm [mailto:[email protected]] Im Auftrag von Greg White
> Gesendet: Dienstag, 6. Oktober 2015 18:35
> An: Mikael Abrahamsson; [email protected]
> Betreff: Re: [aqm] TCP ACK Suppression
> 
> Mikael,
> 
> Specialized upstream TCP ACK handling (which can include both
> prioritization and suppression) is a recommended feature in the DOCSIS
> specification.  The details of the implementation are left to the
> manufacturer, but I don't expect that it is actually done at dequeue
(packet
> processing at dequeue is expensive in cable modems).  Rather, I expect
that
> devices identify ACKs at enqueue, and retain (separate from the main
> service-flow queue) a single ACK for each TCP session.  Then, upon
receiving
> a grant, the ACK queue is flushed first, followed by packets from the main
> queue.
> 
> The CM is not permitted to issue bandwidth requests for more data than it
> has available to send, so bandwidth requests would need to already have
> ACK suppression taken into account.  For this reason (and the above), I
> doubt that the CM would include suppressed ACKs in its queue depth and
> queuing latency estimation.
> 
> AQM in DOCSIS also happens at enqueue.  The spec is silent on whether the
> upstream TCP ACKs are subject to AQM packet drop, but it would be
> compliant for them (i.e. the one ACK per session) to be protected.
> 
> -Greg
> 
> 
> On 10/6/15, 1:20 AM, "aqm on behalf of Mikael Abrahamsson"
> <[email protected] on behalf of [email protected]> wrote:
> 
> >
> >Hi,
> >
> >after noticing that some TCP ACKs on my home DOCSIS connection were
> not
> >making it to their destination, I after some interaction with cable
> >Internet people, I found this:
> >
> >http://www.cedmagazine.com/article/2006/12/docsis-sub-throughput-
> optimi
> >zat
> >ion
> >
> >"TCP ACK Suppression (TAS)"
> >
> >"TCP ACK Suppression overcomes the TRGC limitation without actually
> >affecting the DOCSIS specification or involving the CMTS. It improves
> >downstream TCP transmissions by taking advantage of TRGC and only
> >sending the last ACK it receives when its data grant becomes active.
> >Thus, the number of TCP ACKs is fewer, but the number of bytes
> >acknowledged by each TCP ACK is increased."
> >
> >So the DOCSIS modem basically looks at all the ACKs in the queue at the
> >time of transmission (DOCSIS uses a "grant" system to tell a modem when
> >it's allowed to transmit on the shared medium), and then basically
> >deletes all the redundant ACKs (the ones who are just increasing
> >linearly without indicating packet drop) and keeps the highest ACK
> >only.
> >
> >Now, this kind of mechanism, how should it be treated when it comes to
> >AQM? This mechanism is basically done at de-queue, when a number of
> >packets are emptied from the queue at one time, which is then allowed
> >to fill up again until the next transmit opportunity arises.
> >
> >Or is this a non-problem because it's likely that any AQM employed here
> >would use the buffer fill right after a transmit opportunity has
> >finished (for those that consider buffer fill as a variable), which
> >would mean that most likely the TCP ACK purging had already occured so
> >this mechanism doesn't influence the AQM in any significant manner
> >anyway?
> >
> >Just as a data point from my home connection, I have 250/50 (down/up)
> >and when downloading at 250 megabit/s, the upstream traffic is reduced
> >by approximately 20x, so instead of sending 10 megabit/s (or so) of
> >ACKs, I see approximately 500 kilobits/s of ACKs.
> >
> >--
> >Mikael Abrahamsson    email: [email protected]
> >
> >_______________________________________________
> >aqm mailing list
> >[email protected]
> >https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/aqm
> 
> _______________________________________________
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