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+Network Working Group                                        A. McKenzie
+Request for Comments: 529                                      B. Thomas
+NIC: 17165                                                  R. Tomlinson
+References: RFCs 454, 513,                                     BBN-TENEX
+            NIC # 15372                                        K. Pogran
+                                                             MIT-MULTICS
+                                                            29 June 1973
+
+
+                   A Note on Protocol Synch Sequences
+
+   This note is motivated by Wayne Hathaway's RFC 513 which comments on
+   the interpretation of the TELNET SYNCH sequence (INS/Data Mark).  We
+   agree with Wayne's observation that the phrase "interesting things",
+   as it appears and is explained in the TELNET Protocol Document (NIC#
+   15372), is much too imprecise to appear in a protocol specification.
+   However, we disagree with his proposal that the interpretation of the
+   TELNET SYNCH sequence should be redefined.  Hathaway's comments led
+   us to examine the notion of "interesting things" with respect both to
+   TELNET protocol and to protocols built upon it.
+
+   We feel that the definition of the TELNET SYNCH sequence in the
+   TELNET Protocol Document is the proper one [1].  More important, we
+   feel that the (potential) difficulties with respect to the TELNET
+   SYNCH sequence noted in RFC 513 are not the reflection of a TELNET
+   design flaw but rather reflect misuse of the TELNET SYNCH sequence by
+   "higher level" protocols (in particular FTP) that are based on
+   TELNET.
+
+   The remainder of this note examines the notion of a synch sequence
+   and suggests an approach to the design of protocols which are to use
+   the TELNET protocol as a basis.
+
+   The reason for defining a synch sequence for a protocol is to provide
+   a mechanism by which signals, represented as characters, that for one
+   reason or another are "stuck" in the pipeline between the sender and
+   the protocol interpreter, can promptly be brought to the attention of
+   the interpreter.  Flow through the pipeline is, of course, controlled
+   by the receiver; the process operating the interpreter may be doing
+   something else at the moment, and may not be paying attention to the
+   incoming data stream.  The sender would like to get the attention of
+   the receiving process, to have it read its incoming data stream and
+   take action as directed by the "interesting" characters in that
+   stream, which will, in general, be protocol commands.  To accomplish
+   this, a "SYNCH sequence" is transmitted.  A synch sequence consists
+   of:
+
+
+
+
+
+McKenzie, et. al.                                               [Page 1]
+
+RFC 529            A Note on Protocol Synch Sequences       29 June 1973
+
+
+      1. An "out of band" signal which serves to get the attention of
+         the protocol interpreter; and
+
+      2. An "in band" marker which serves to mark how much of the data
+         stream is to be processed by the protocol interpreter in
+         response to the "out of band" signal.
+
+   For the TELNET protocol the "out of band" signal is the INS of Host-
+   Host Protocol and the "in band" marker is the TELNET Data Mark
+   character (DM).  Ignoring for the moment the use of TELNET as a basis
+   for higher level protocols (such as FTP), the class of characters
+   "interesting" to a TELNET interpreter is the set of TELNET commands
+   (including the commands for option negotiation and sub-negotiation
+   [2]).
+
+   One might reasonably argue that this class could be enlarged by a
+   server Host to include the set of signals of interest to the terminal
+   support software of that particular Host.  For example, in case of
+   TENEX such a set would include the "terminal interrupt" characters
+   enabled by the process reading from the TELNET connection (e.g., ^C,
+   ^T, etc.).  Other hosts, such as Multics, might look only for the
+   TELNET commands, such as Interrupt Process (IP), Abort Output (AO),
+   etc.  Whether or not one chooses to consider additional signals as
+   interesting during the processing of a TELNET SYNCH sequence should
+   cause the implementer no problem:
+
+      He must treat all TELNET commands as interesting by interpreting
+      them.  He may choose either to ignore such additional signals or
+      to pass them on to the process; in either case there is no
+      vagueness since the implementer knows which characters his
+      terminal support software considers interesting.
+
+   The difficulty noted in RFC 513 concerning the vagueness of
+   "interesting things" occurs when a higher level protocol makes use of
+   the TELNET SYNCH sequence to force commands of interest to it through
+   to its interpreter.  A higher level protocol designed in such a way
+   represents a violation of the protocol layering discipline:
+
+      The TELNET SYNCH mechanism is being misused by attempting to give
+      it meaning at two different levels of protocol.
+
+   The problem stems from the fact that, in general, a (increasing)
+   number of different higher level protocols can be designed with
+   TELNET as a base.  A TELNET interpreter has no way of knowing the
+   higher level protocol interpreter (if any) to which it is passing
+   characters, and therefore, can not tell which things are
+   "interesting" to the higher level protocol interpreter.  That is,
+   just as an NCP should not have to know whether the data it handles is
+
+
+
+McKenzie, et. al.                                               [Page 2]
+
+RFC 529            A Note on Protocol Synch Sequences       29 June 1973
+
+
+   for a TELNET connection, an FTP data connection, etc., a TELNET
+   interpreter should not be required to know the kind of process for
+   which it is handling characters.  This should, in fact, result in a
+   simplification of the design and implementation of TELNET protocol
+   interpreters.
+
+   This difficulty can be resolved by proper design of protocols that
+   make use of TELNET as a base.  In particular, if in such a higher
+   level protocol it is important to be able to force commands through
+   to the protocol interpreter, the higher level protocol should include
+   its own synch sequence:  i.e., an "out of band" signal used with an
+   "in band" data mark.  The TELNET protocol provides the Interrupt
+   Process character (IP) for use as an "out of band" signal.  A synch
+   sequence for a protocol built upon TELNET would be:
+
+      1. Insert the TELNET IP control character into the data stream;
+
+      2. Insert the higher level protocol data mark character (HDM) into
+         the data stream following whatever higher level protocol
+         commands are important at the time.
+
+   Receipt of the IP TELNET command causes the higher level protocol
+   interpreter to be interrupted, enabling it to scan the data stream
+   (up to and including the HDM) for commands it considers important.
+
+   As an example, consider the case of the File Transfer Protocol (RFC
+   454) and the problem of aborting a file transfer in progress.  To
+   accomplish such an abort the FTP user (process) should:
+
+      1. Send the TELNET IP character;
+
+      2. Send the TELNET SYNC sequence, that is:
+
+         a. Send the TELNET Data Mark (DM);
+
+         b. Send the Host-Host Protocol INS;
+
+      3. Send the FTP ABOR command; and
+
+      4. Send the FTP data mark character [3].
+
+   The user (or process acting on his behalf) must transmit the TELNET
+   SYNCH sequence of step 2 above to ensure that the TELNET IP gets
+   through to the server's TELNET interpreter.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+McKenzie, et. al.                                               [Page 3]
+
+RFC 529            A Note on Protocol Synch Sequences       29 June 1973
+
+
+Endnotes
+
+   [1] I.e., any TELNET commands appearing before the Data Mark are to
+   be interpreted; the Data Mark is to be used to terminate the scan
+   initiated by the INS; characters that are not TELNET commands may be
+   discarded or passed to the user process as the implementer sees fit.
+
+   [2] We support Hathaway's proposal to fully parenthesize sub-
+   negotiations.  Further, we believe that the "closing parenthesis"
+   should be a new command rather than a second SB command; this will
+   aid the receiver in recovering from errors, either in parsing at the
+   receiver or in generation at the transmitter.  We disagree with his
+   proposal that sub-negotiations be discarded when encountered during
+   processing of a TELNET SYNCH.
+
+   [3] For FTP such a data mark character has not yet been defined and,
+   in fact, may not be necessary under the constraint that the FTP
+   command interpreter should look for exactly one command after being
+   interrupted; this is consistent with the general command-reply
+   orientation of FTP.
+
+
+
+          [This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry]
+     [into the online RFC archives by Helene Morin, Via Genie 12/1999]
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+McKenzie, et. al.                                               [Page 4]
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