scope:

Introduction

In this document, we define congestion control as the feedback-based adjustment of the rate at which data is sent into the network. Congestion control is an indispensable set of principles and mechanisms for maintaining the stability of the Internet. Congestion control has been closely associated with TCP since 1988 [Jac88], but there has also been a great deal of congestion control work outside of TCP (e.g., for real-time multimedia applications, multicast, and router-based mechanisms). Several such proposals have been produced within the IETF and published as RFCs, along with RFCs that give architectural guidance (e.g., by pointing out the importance of performing some form of congestion control). Several of these mechanisms are in use within the Internet.

When designing a new Internet transport protocol, it is therefore important to not only understand how congestion control works in TCP but also have a broader understanding of the other congestion control RFCs -- some give guidance, some of them describe mechanisms that may have a direct influence on a newly designed protocol, and some of them may only be "related work" worth knowing about. The purpose of this document is to facilitate and encourage this search for knowledge by providing an overview of RFCs related to congestion control that have been published thus far. This document is a product of the IRTF's Internet Congestion Control Research Group (ICCRG). It was developed because a strong grasp of the existing literature should benefit further ICCRG work. The ICCRG developed consensus on the content of this document during a two-year development period based on review comments and ICCRG mailing list discussions. A list of the main review contributors is contained in the Acknowledgements section of this document.