I understand the arguments that have been used, yes. I understand that
in the end there will be a small practical MTU when transmitting over
UDP (I would like it to be the 4k that your experiments determined, not
2K, or worse 480). I don't argue with that truth. I very simply fail to
see why this is a syslog-protocol layer and not a transport-binding
specification. 

Side comment, not necessary for the document at hand: I also don't
understand what I would do different if I could determine (in your words
negotiate) what the MTU actually was. I have a message that needs to be
sent, it will either make it or not. Knowing a dynamically determined
MTU is of no value as I can't make my message smaller, it is what it is.
If it gets fragmented, I hope it will be reassembled. If it is big, I
hope that the receiver offers up a big enough buffer to it's socket
library. It is all hope at this point. I am ok with hope, I just don't
want you to limit my ability to hope.

John

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rainer Gerhards [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 11:37 AM
> To: Moehrke, John (GE Healthcare)
> Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: RE: [Syslog] #2, max message size
> 
> John,
> 
> the issue is the simplex nature of syslog. With syslog (other 
> than with
> almost all other protocols), you send a message and need to 
> *hope* that
> the recipient can receive it. There is also no negotiation 
> phase. So you
> need to send it blindly. For example, if you send an IHE 2K 
> message, but
> the receiver does just support 1K, you will loose 1K without 
> knowing it.
> As such, it is vital to know at least a "safe size" that you 
> can use and
> know that it can be processed (if it makes it to the recipient). We
> selected 480 octets because that fits into an unfragmented 
> UDP packet in
> any case. I know that's too few for IHE, but for network 
> management - an
> important use case for syslog - this is very often sufficient. This is
> the reason why a simplex protocol like syslog (send it and 
> forget it ;))
> should provide some guidance about lower limits. Keep in mind 
> that there
> is NO upper limit - this is done in the transport mappings and the
> implementations. So if you need 32K for IHE, that is perfectly well
> (-transport-UDP, I think, suppport 64K - but you know the practical
> limits).
> 
> Does this clarify?
> 
> Rainer
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Moehrke, John (GE Healthcare) 
> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> > Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 6:13 PM
> > To: Rainer Gerhards; Darren Reed
> > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > Subject: RE: [Syslog] #2, max message size
> > 
> > Shouldn't the MTU be defined by the binding to the transport? 
> > I fail to
> > see why the protocol, unbound to a transport, needs to have 
> a limit. 
> > 
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> > > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of 
> Rainer Gerhards
> > > Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 11:01 AM
> > > To: Darren Reed
> > > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > Subject: RE: [Syslog] #2, max message size
> > > 
> > > Darren,
> > > 
> > > I violently object your argument and leave it up to the 
> > rest of the WG
> > > what should be done. I respect your argument, but I do not like to
> > > re-iterate this forever.
> > > 
> > > One time we have discussed this was in October 2004:
> > > 
> > > http://www.syslog.cc/ietf/autoarc/msg01289.html
> > > 
> > > If you browse the archive, you will find several other 
> > ocasions where
> > > this was discussed.
> > > 
> > > What's your actual recommendation? Do not say anything and 
> > > leave it the
> > > implementor to guess what is OK? After all, its the implementor's
> > > problem if the message can not be transmitted. Or do you prefer to
> > > define an API where the lower layer tells the upper layer what
> > > capabilities it has? Maybe MTU discovery? Or an app-level 
> > ack? I think
> > > all of these options have already been discussed during the 
> > > past years.
> > > What is now in is a (fragile) consensus, but if only you do 
> > > not like it,
> > > I think we should go ahead and leave an unhappy Darren 
> > > behind. If only I
> > > insist on it, we can also go ahead and leave an unhappy 
> > Rainer behind.
> > > But we need to go ahead!
> > > 
> > > Rainer 
> > > 
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Darren Reed [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 
> > > > Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 4:49 PM
> > > > To: Rainer Gerhards
> > > > Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > > > Subject: Re: [Syslog] #2, max message size
> > > > 
> > > > > Darren,
> > > > > 
> > > > > > The only place a message size limit should be 
> specified is in 
> > > > > > a transport
> > > > > > mapping.  If it's in -15 then it should be removed.  Limits 
> > > > > > of all sizes
> > > > > > and types do nothing but contribute to aging of a protocol.
> > > > > 
> > > > > -protocol-15 is a compromise after a very long 
> > > discussion. It says:
> > > > > 
> > > > > -----
> > > > >    A receiver MUST be able to accept messages up to and 
> > > > including 480
> > > > >    octets in length.  For interoperability reasons, 
> all receiver
> > > > >    implementations SHOULD be able to accept messages up to 
> > > > and including
> > > > >    2,048 octets in length.
> > > > > 
> > > > >    If a receiver receives a message with a length larger 
> > > than 2,048
> > > > >    octets, or larger than it supports, the receiver MAY 
> > > discard the
> > > > >    message or truncate the payload.
> > > > > -----
> > > > > 
> > > > > I think this text is useful. It keeps the door open 
> for any size
> > > > > messages while still allowing it to be restricted by 
> > the transport
> > > > > mappings and individual implementations (e.g. on 
> > low-end embedded
> > > > > devices). It cautions implementors against being too 
> > > > verbose but also
> > > > > sets a lower limit that each implementation can assume to 
> > > > be received.
> > > > > 
> > > > > I think we should continue to use this text. Do you agree?
> > > > 
> > > > No.  That text doesn't belong in this draft.
> > > > 
> > > > Darren
> > > > 
> > > 
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Syslog mailing list
> > > [email protected]
> > > https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/syslog
> > > 
> > 
> 

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