RFC 6824 · EXPERIMENTAL · 2013

TCP Extensions for Multipath Operation with Multiple Addresses

Overview

RFC 6824, “TCP Extensions for Multipath Operation with Multiple Addresses”, is an Experimental document published in January 2013 by A. Ford, C. Raiciu, M. Handley, O. Bonaventure. It has been obsoleted by RFC 8684 — refer to the newer document for the authoritative version. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.

Abstract

TCP/IP communication is currently restricted to a single path per connection, yet multiple paths often exist between peers. The simultaneous use of these multiple paths for a TCP/IP session would improve resource usage within the network and, thus, improve user experience through higher throughput and improved resilience to network failure.

Multipath TCP provides the ability to simultaneously use multiple paths between peers. This document presents a set of extensions to traditional TCP to support multipath operation. The protocol offers the same type of service to applications as TCP (i.e., reliable bytestream), and it provides the components necessary to establish and use multiple TCP flows across potentially disjoint paths. This document defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet community.

Abstract as published in the RFC, via rfc-editor.org.

What “Experimental” means

Describes a specification that is part of a research or development effort, published so the community can gain experience with it.

Read this RFC

The canonical text of RFC 6824 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in TXT,HTML.

Relationships to other RFCs
Obsoleted by
RFC 8684
Other RFCs from 2013

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