Ethereal-users: [Ethereal-users] MSWindows TCP SYN retry question

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From: "Bob Eby" <beby@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2003 10:18:09 -0700
Okay, this isn't directly related to ethereal, but I did find it *using*
ethereal, so here goes.

This is from an ethereal "print summary":
    No. Time        Source                Destination           Protocol
Info
      1 0.000000    rje                   RJE-XEON              TCP
1488 > telnet [SYN] Seq=3381119184 Ack=0 Win=16384 Len=0
      2 0.000316    RJE-XEON              rje                   TCP
telnet > 1488 [RST, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=3381119185 Win=0 Len=0
      3 0.443402    rje                   RJE-XEON              TCP
1488 > telnet [SYN] Seq=3381119184 Ack=0 Win=16384 Len=0
      4 0.443604    RJE-XEON              rje                   TCP
telnet > 1488 [RST, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=3381119185 Win=0 Len=0
      5 0.944113    rje                   RJE-XEON              TCP
1488 > telnet [SYN] Seq=3381119184 Ack=0 Win=16384 Len=0
      6 0.944285    RJE-XEON              rje                   TCP
telnet > 1488 [RST, ACK] Seq=0 Ack=3381119185 Win=0 Len=0

For some reason I see syn followed by rst 3 times instead of the
expected one time.  This all occurs within one second at .5 second
intervals.  (I also have a vague recollection I've done similar things
on these boxes before and never seen this "retry" behavior)

Is this normal, expected, and "a good thing"?  I just read "Chapter 18:
TCP Connection Establishment and Termination" of "TCP/IP Illustrated
Volume 1" and have no idea where to go for further info on this issue,
in particular relating to performance, windows and what not.  

In search of a clue,
-Bob
beby@xxxxxxxxxxxx

Attachment: syn_retry.cap
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