Subject: Re: An alternative to TCP (part 1)

From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 8 Feb 2001 09:17:01 +0100

>> > The host *is* the edge of the network.
>>
>> I'm sorry to have not mentioned that I consider the host nodes,
>> or the end nodes, are not edges but instead something attaching
>> on network edges. I consider the very last hub, or the access router
>> which the end nodes connected to as the 'network edge'.

> So there's no network between me and another computer on the
> same unswitched Ethernet?
>For example the old 10Base2 ethernet links? Or a cross-link twisted-pairs?

>I can say the full length of the 10Base2 link can be regarded as a (passive)
repeater hub.

>I think 'network edge' is somewhat a arbitrary definition. Maybe I'm not
correct but I >believe distinguishing 'network edge' from 'end node' may provide
some convenience for >further discussion on the congestion control and avoidance
mechanism.

If I'm not wrong the ethernet is a type of LAN (local area NETWORK) and
therefore there is a network even without routing or switching devices; the
edges of the networks are the hosts.
Anyway, I agree with Mr Gao that it will be usefull to have a distinguishing
name for the last network element, something like ONE "outest network element"
or END "edge netework device" or any other that may be chosen.

Joaquin Rivera

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From: Harald Alvestrand <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 08 Feb 2001 12:10:43 +0100

>or END "edge netework device" or any other that may be chosen.

I think the (layer 3) network edge is inside my computer, where the TCP 
stacks interfaces to the applications. The layer 7 network edge is even 
further in.

A much mmore interesting edge is the edge of a control area (where the 
corporate edge meets the ISP edge, or where the corporate network meets my 
in-house network, for instance).

Very few things change where my drop-cable plugs into my hub.

--
Harald Tveit Alvestrand, [email-masked]
+47 41 44 29 94
Personal email: [email-masked]

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From: Joe Touch <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 08 Feb 2001 08:56:05 -0800

> in-house network, for instance).

The 'edge' of the network is like the 'end' of end-to-end-
it starts/ends exactly where I begin/cease to care.

I.e.,
	if you can kick it, it's hardware.

	if you need to muck with it, it's in the edge.

Joe

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From: "Marvin Sanchez Garache" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 12:34:57 +0100

If you want a good definition of edge you can review books on "Graph
Theory". In fact, the use of edge in networks comes from there. Hence, the
definition of "edge" is not more than the connecting line between "nodes"
(vertices of the graph). End-to-End connections can be hold through multiple
nodes using multiple "edges".

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From: Lloyd Wood <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 12:52:41 +0000 (GMT)

On Fri, 9 Feb 2001, Marvin Sanchez Garache wrote:

> If you want a good definition of edge you can review books on "GraphTheory". In fact, the use of edge in networks comes from there. Hence, the

That's not how edge is being used in networking.

The edges you describe are called links; borders of graph areas
(administrative areas, subnets) are called edges.

Hence edge-to-edge services in diffserv etc.

L.

<[email-masked]>PGP<http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/L.Wood/>

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From: "Bojan Lekovic" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 9 Feb 2001 14:11:41 +0100

> nodes using multiple "edges".

A graph edge and a network edge are two different things! But if you prefer
"edges"  to "links" than you should use "vertices" instead of "nodes" (see
your last sentence). The term "network edge" comes from the dictionary and
has nothing to do with graph theory.

Bojan Lekovic

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From: "Michael W. Condry" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 28 Feb 2001 09:29:00 -0800

When we consider applications services there are many logical points
to call the network edge, for just one example see
                 draft-erickson-opes-taxonomy-00.txt

>Very few things change where my drop-cable plugs into my hub.

Michael W. Condry
Director, Network Edge Technology