TCP

The TCP three-way handshake establishes the two directions of a byte stream. Each endpoint supplies an initial sequence number and acknowledges the other endpoint’s number. Those are independent sequence spaces, not a shared wall clock. Applications do not need synchronized machine clocks to connect. Later sequence numbers identify bytes and support ordering, duplicate handling, acknowledgments, and retransmission within that connection. ...

HTTP persistence lets several request and response exchanges use one connection. That can avoid repeated TCP setup and, for HTTPS, repeated TLS negotiation. The benefit depends on latency, request size, and whether another usable connection already exists. Persistence does not make application work disappear, nor does it promise that a socket will remain open indefinitely. ...

TCP’s Maximum Segment Size option advertises the receiving endpoint’s maximum TCP data size under the option’s defined accounting rules. Each direction has its own advertisement; the two values need not match. A router can reduce those advertisements while forwarding SYN messages so later data segments fit a constrained path. That changes TCP behavior for the affected connections, not the underlying link MTU itself. ...

The path MTU is the smallest link MTU along a particular route. A sender cannot determine it solely from its own interface’s MTU because an intermediate link may carry smaller packets. Classic IPv4 Path MTU Discovery sends packets with Don’t Fragment set and uses ICMP fragmentation-needed feedback to reduce the estimated packet size. A working route and a working size estimate are separate requirements. ...

TIME-WAIT is a TCP state retained after certain orderly connection closures. It gives the closing exchange time to complete if the final acknowledgment must be repeated and helps prevent delayed segments from an earlier connection incarnation being confused with a later one. The relevant identity includes both endpoint addresses and ports. A TIME-WAIT entry is not simply a universal lock on one local port number. ...

TCP congestion control limits how a sender injects data into a network that has finite shared capacity. Its congestion window constrains outstanding data, while pacing, when used, controls how transmissions are distributed over time. The receiver’s advertised window imposes a separate flow-control limit. These mechanisms interact, but they describe different constraints and should not be collapsed into one ambiguous sending-speed setting. ...

HTTP persistence allows multiple exchanges to share a connection, so repeated requests may avoid TCP setup and TLS negotiation. It is a protocol capability, not a promise that a particular socket stays open. Whether another request actually reuses it also depends on complete message framing, client pool policy, server behavior, and the connection’s current condition. ...