TCP support for selective acknowledgments

z/OS® V2R1 Communications Server provides the following TCP support for selective acknowledgments:
A TCP connection might experience poor performance when multiple packets are lost from one window of data. With the limited information available from cumulative acknowledgments, a TCP sender can learn about only a single lost packet per round-trip time. A Selective Acknowledgment (SACK) mechanism, combined with a selective repeat retransmission policy, can help to overcome these limitations. The receiving TCP sends back SACK packets to the sender informing the sender of data that has been received. The sending TCP can then retransmit only the missing data segments.

Using the TCP support for selective acknowledgments

To use the TCP support for selective acknowledgments, perform the appropriate tasks in Table 1.
Table 1. TCP support for selective acknowledgments
Task Reference
Disable the exchange of selective acknowledgments. NOSELECTIVEACK configuration option on the TCPCONFIG statement in z/OS Communications Server: IP Configuration Reference
Determine whether the selective acknowledgment function is enabled:
  • Issue the Netstat CONFIG/-f command.
  • Update your network management application to use the information that is returned by the GetProfile callable NMI.
Configure the creation of the SMF 119 subtype 4 event records that provide TCP/IP profile information. SMFCONFIG statement in z/OS Communications Server: IP Configuration Reference