Network Working Group 23 June 1971
Request for Comments: 171 Abhay Bhushan, MIT
NIC 6793 Bob Braden, UCLA
Categories: D.4, D.5, and D.7 Will Crowther, BBN
Updates: 114 Eric Harslem, Rand
Obsolete: None John Heafner, Rand
Alex McKenzie, BBN
John Melvin, SRI
Bob Sundberg, Harvard
Dick Watson, SRI
Jim White, UCSB
THE DATA TRANSFER PROTOCOL
NWG/RFC 171 2
I. INTRODUCTION
A common protocol is desirable for data transfer in such
diverse applications as remote job entry, file transfer, network
mail system, graphics, remote program execution, and
communication with block data terminals (such as printers, card,
paper tape, and magnetic tape equipment, expecially in context of
terminal IMPs). Although it would be possible to include some or
even all of the above applications in an all-inclusive file
transfer protocol, a separation between data transfer and
application functions would provide flexibility in
implementation, and reduce complexity. Separating the data
transfer function would also reduce proliferation of programs and
protocols.
We have therefore defined a low-level data transfer protocol
(DTP) to be used for transfer of data in file transfer, remote
job entry, and other applications protocols. This paper concerns
itself solely with the data transfer protocol. A companion paper
(RFC 172) describes file transfer protocol.
II. DISCUSSION
The data transfer protocol (DTP) serves three basic
functions. It provides for convenient separation of NCP messages
into "logical" blocks (transactions, units, records, groups, and
files), it allows for the separation of data and control
information, and it includes some error control mechanisms.
Three modes of separating messages into transactions(*)are
allowed by DTP. The first is an indefinite bit stream which
terminates only when the connection is closed (i.e., the bit
stream represents a single transaction for duration of
connection). This mode would be useful in data transfer between
hosts and terminal IMPs (TIPs).
The second mode utilizes a "transparent" block convention,
similar to the ASCII DLE (Data Link Escape). In "transparent"
mode, transactions (which may be arbitrarily long) end whenever
the character sequence DLE ETX is encountered (DLE and ETX are
8-bit character codes). To prevent the possibility of a DLE ETX
sequence occurring within data stream, any occurrence of DLE is
replaced by DLE DLE on transmission. The extra DLE. is stripped
on reception. A departure from the ASCII convention is that
"transparent" block does not begin with DLE STX, but with a
transaction type byte. This mode will be useful in data transfer
between terminal IMPs.
_________________________
(*)
The term transaction is used here to mean a block of data
defined by the transfer mode.
NWG/RFC 171 3
The third mode utilizes a count mechanism. Each transaction
begins with a fixed-length descriptor field containing separate
binary counts of information bits and filler bits. If a
transaction has no filler bits, its filler count is zero. This
mode will be useful in most host-to-host data transfer
applications.
DTP allows for the above modes to be intermixed over the
same connection (i.e., mode is not associated with connection,
but only with transaction). The above transfer modes can
represent transfer of either data or control information. The
protocol allows for separating data and control information at a
lower level, by providing different "type" codes (see
SPECIFICATIONS) for data and control transactions. This
provision may simplify some implementations.
The implementation of a workable(*)subset of the above modes
is specifically permitted by DTP. To provide compatability
between hosts using different subsets of transfer modes, an
initial "handshake" procedure is required by DTP. The handshake
involves exchanging information on modes available for transmit
and receive. This will enable host programs to agree on transfer
modes acceptable for a connection.
The manner in which DTP is used would depend largely on the
applications protocol. It is the applications protocol which
defines the workable subset of transfer modes. For example, the
file transfer protocol will not work just with the indefinite bit
stream modes. At least, for control information one of the other
two modes is required. Again, the use of information separator
and abort functions provided in DTP (see SPECIFICATIONS) is
defined by the applications protocol. For example, in a remote
job entry protocol, aborts may be used to stop the execution of a
job while they may not cause any action in another applications
protocol.
It should also be noted that DTP does not define a data
transfer service. There is no standard server socket, or initial
connection protocol defined for DTP. What DTP defines is a
mechanism for data transfer which can be used to provide services
for block data transfers, file transfers, remote job entry,
network mail and numerous other applications.
There are to be no restrictions on the manner in which DTP
is implemented at various sites. For example, DTP may be
imbedded in an applications program such as for file transfer, or
it may be a separate service program or subroutine used by
several applications programs. Another implementation may employ
_________________________
(*)
What constitutes a workable subset is entirely governed by the
higher level applications protocol.
NWG/RFC 171 4
macros or UUO's (user unimplemented operations on PDP-10's), to
achieve the functions specified in DTP. It is also possible that
in implementation, the separation between the DTP and
applications protocols be only at a conceptual level.
III. SPECIFICATIONS
1. Byte Size for Network Connection
The standard byte size for network connections using DTP is
8-bit. However, other byte sizes specified by higher-level
applications protocols or applications programs are also
allowed by DTP. For the purpose of this document bytes are
assumed to be 8-bits, unless otherwise stated.
2. Transactions
At DTP level, all information transmitted over connection is
a sequence of transactions. (*)DTP defines the rules for
delimiting transactions.
2A. Types
The first byte of each transaction shall define a transaction
type, as shown below. (Note that code assignments do not
conflict with assignments in TELNET protocol.) The
transaction types may be referred by the hexadecimal code
assigned to them. The transactions types are discussed in
more detail in section 2B.
Code Transaction Type
Hex Octal
B0 260 Indefinite bit stream -- data.
B1 261 Transparent (DLE) block--data.
B2 262 Descriptor and counts--data.
B3 263 Modes available (handshake).
B4 264 Information separators (endcode).
B5 265 Error codes.
B6 266 Abort.
B7 267 No operation (NoOp).
B8 270 Indefinite bit stream--control.
B9 271 Transparent (DLE) block--control.
_________________________
(*)
Transactions suppress the notion of host-IMP messages, and
may have a logical interpretation similar to that of flags
(and data) defined by Mealy in RFC 91.
NWG/RFC 171 5
BA 272 Descriptor and counts--control.
BB 273 (unassigned but reserved for data transfer)
BC 274 " " "
BD 275 " " "
BE 276 " " "
BF 277 " " "
2B. Syntax and Semantics
2B.1 Type B0 and B8 (indefinite bitstream modes) transactions terminate
only when the NCP connection is "closed". There is no other escape
convention defined in DTP at this level. It should be noted, that
closing connection in bitstream mode represents an implicit file
separator (see section 2B.5).
2B.2 Type B1 and B0 (transparent block modes) transactions terminate
when the byte sequence DLE ETX is encountered. The sender shall
replace any occurence of DLE in data stream by the sequence DLE
DLE. The receiver shall strip the extra DLE. The transaction is
assumed to be byte-oriented. The code for DLE is Hex '90' or Octal
'220' (this is different from the ASCII DLE which is Hex '10' or
Octal '020). (*)ETX is Hex '03' or Octal '03' (the same as ASCII
ETX).
2B.3 Type B2 and BA (descriptor and counts modes) transactions have
three fields, a 9-byte (72-bits)(*)descriptor field and variable
length (including zero) info and filler fields, as shown below.
The total length of a transaction is (72+info+filler) bits.
|<B2 or BA><Info count><NUL><Seq #><NUL><filler count>|<info><filler> |
| 3-bits 24-bits 8-bits 16-bits 8-bits 8-bits |Variable length|
|<----- 72-bit descriptor field --------------------->|info and filler|
Info count is a binary count of number of bits in info field, not
including descriptor or filler bits. Number of info bits is
limited to (2**24 - 1), as there are 24 bits in info count field.
_________________________
(*)
This assignment was made to be consistent with the TELNET
philosophy of maintaining the integrity of the 128 Network ASCII
characters.
(*)
A 72-bit descriptor field provides a convenient separation of
information bits, as 72 is the least common multiple of 8 and 36, the
commonly encountered byte sizes on ARPA network host computers.
NWG/RFC 171 6
Sequence # is a sequential count in round-robin manner of B2 and BA
type transaction. The inclusion of sequence numbers would help in
debugging and error control, as sequence numbers may be used to
check for missing transactions, and aid in locating errors. Hosts
not wishing to implement this mechanism should have all 1's in the
field. The count shall start from zero and continue sequentially
to all 1's, after which it is reset to all zeros. The permitted
sequence numbers are one greater than the previous, and all 1's.
Filler count is a binary count of bits used as fillers (i.e., not
information) after the end of meaningful data. Number of filler
bits is limited to 255, as there are 8 bits in filler count field.
The NUL bytes contain all 0's.
2B.4 Type B3 (modes available) transactions have a fixed length of 3
bytes, as shown below. First byte defines transaction type as B3,
second byte defines modes available for send, and third byte
defines modes available for receive.
----------------------------------------------------------------
| Type | 1 send | 1 receive |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
| B3 |0|0|BA|B2|B9|B1|B8|B0|0|0|BA|B2|B9|B1|B8|B0|
----------------------------------------------------------------
The modes are indicated by bit-coding, as shown above. The
particular bit or bits, if set to logical "1", indicate that mode
to be available. The 2 most significant bits should be set to
logical "0". The use of type B3 transactions is discussed in
section 3B.
2B.5 Type B4 (information separator) transactions have fixed length of 2
bytes, as shown below. First byte defines transaction type as B4,
and second byte defines the separator.
NWG/RFC 171 7
---------------------------------------
| Type | End Code |
| | | |R| |
| | |G|E| |
| B4 | F|R|C|U|
| | I|O|O|N|
| | L|U|R|I|
| | E|P|D|T|
---------------------------------------
The following separator codes are assigned:
Code Meaning
Hex Octal
01 001 Unit separator
03 003 Record separator
07 007 Group separator
0F 017 File separator
Files, groups, records, and units may be data blocks that a user
defines to be so. The only restriction is that of the hierarchical
relationship File>Groups>Records>Units (where '>' means
'contains'). Thus a file separator marks not only the end of file,
but also the end of group, record, and unit. These separators may
provide a convenient "logical" separation of data at the data
transfer level. Their use is governed by the applications
protocol.
2B.6 Type B5 (error codes) transactions have a fixed length of 3 bytes,
as shown below. First byte defines transaction type as B5, second
byte indicates an error code, and third byte may indicate the
sequence number on which error occured.
----------------------------------------------------------
| Type | Error Code | Sequence # |
| | | |
| B5 | | |
----------------------------------------------------------
NWG/RFC 171 8
The following error codes are assigned:
Error Code Meaning
Hex Octal
00 000 Undefined error
01 001 Out of sync. (type code other
than B0 through BF).
02 002 Broken sequence (the sequence #
field contains the first expected
but not received sequence number).
03 003 Illegal DLE sequence (other than
DLE DLE or DLE ETX).
B0 260
through through The transaction type (indicated by
BF 277 by error code) is not implemented.
The error code transaction is defined only for the purpose of error
control. DTP does not require the receiver of an error code to
take any recovery action. The receiver may discard the error code
transaction. In addition, DTP does not require that sequence
numbers be remembered or transmitted.
2B.7 Type B6 (abort) transactions have a fixed length of 2 bytes, as
shown below. First byte defines transaction type as B6, and second
byte defines the abort function.
------------------------------------------
| Type | Function |
| | | | |R| |
| | | |G|E| |
| B6 | |F|R|C|U|
| | |I|O|O|N|
| | |L|U|R|I|
| | |E|P|D|T|
------------------------------------------
The following abort codes are assigned:
Abort Code Meaning
Hex Octal
00 000 Abort preceding transaction
01 001 Abort preceding unit
02 002 Abort preceding record
07 007 Abort preceding group
0F 017 Abort preceding file
NWG/RFC 171 9
DTP does not require the receiver of an abort to take specific
action, therefore sender should not necessarily make any
assumptions. The manner in which abort is handled is to be
specified by higer-level applications protocols.
2B.8 Type B7 (NoOp) transactions are one byte long, and indicate no
operation. These may be useful as fillers when byte size used for
network connections is other than 8-bits.
3. Initial Connection, Handshake and Error Recovery
3A. DTP does not specify the mechanism used in establishing connections.
It is up to the applications protocol (e.g., file transfer protocol)
to choose the mechanism which suits its requirements. (*)
3B. The first transaction after connection is made will be type B3
(modes available). In a full-duplex connection, both server and
user will communicate type B3 transactions, indicating modes
available for send and receive. In a simplex connection only sender
will communicate a type B3 transaction. It is the sender's
responsibility to choose a mode acceptable to the receiver. (*)If an
acceptable mode is not available or if mode chosen is not
acceptable, the connection may be closed.
3C. No error recovery mechanisms are specified by DTP. The applications
protocol may implement error recovery and further error control
mechanisms.
_________________________
(*)
It is, however, recommended that the standard initial connection
protocol be adopted where feasible.
(*)
It is recommended that when more than one mode is available, the
sender should choose 'descriptor and count' mode (Type B2 or BA).
The 'bitstream' mode (type B0 or B8) should be chosen only when the
other two modes cannot be used.
[ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry ]
[ into the online RFC archives by Samuel Etler 8/99 ]
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