ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an analytical method of optimal breaking of a transmission control protocol/internet protocol (TCP/IP) message into LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) packets in networks without cut-through routing. It discusses a limiting case of large N, which corresponds to the AFW scenario. In a TCP/IP session, each TCP/IP message is broken into MAC packets that are then transmitted over the network path. When the MAC frames are required to be of the same length, message lengths are not necessarily an integer multiple of the packet length. The last packet of a TCP/IP message will have to contain extra bits, called the fill, to bring it up to the required length. The effect of the fill is an additional loss of performance, especially if the fixed packet length exceeds those of many TCP/IP messages. The error control in TCP/IP consists of including the cyclic redundancy check field in each MAC packet at the source node.
