Author Topic: Udp, Tcp (Read 553 times)

najdorf · « **on:** February 04, 2003, 09:23:44 AM »

What does it mean when I get the message that I have lost TCP and switching to UDP? Is it bad, what do I do about it?

Ripsnort · « **Reply #1 on:** February 04, 2003, 09:29:43 AM »

Means you should resort to prophilactics. You wouldn't want to get pregnant because your IUD fell out.

Ohhhh, you said UDP, sorry!

AKIron · « **Reply #2 on:** February 04, 2003, 09:51:38 AM »

It's indicative of a network problem. Only thing you can do about it is to reconnect. No need to do that though unless you are seeing problems like warping.

devious · « **Reply #3 on:** February 04, 2003, 10:17:43 AM »

Basically, UDP is a connectionless protocol, ie. the server sends you packets and awaits responses without ever knowing if packets from/to your client make it across the network.

If the server/client detects that no answers are coming, or the answers don't fit the state information, it switches to TCP.

Using TCP, the computers exchange information like "Im going to send you packet 1" and wait for a confirmation "Yeah i got packet 1 go ahead" then "Now im going to send you packet 2" (Of course it's a bit more complicated than that, for the basics I'd recommend O'Reilly `s Internet Core Protocols)

So TCP uses up more bandwith with protocol data, and gives you worse "ping" times b/c the computers have to wait for confirmations - overall, you have a more laggy but also more stable connection.

A stable UDP connection is therefore desirable. You can check for packet loss using the "Ping" command. Just ping the server and see if packets are dropped - that's the worst thing that can happen. Excessive latency may also cause the TCP switch.