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I would like to know if UDP is considered to be a "best-effort" service?
The reason I ask is because there are no guarantees that any of the packets will reach their destination/s at all. Therefore, could UDP be classed as "best-effort" or is there another term which is deemed the "correct" way of describing this?
Thanks.
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Best-effort delivery describes a network service in which the network does not provide any guarantee that data is delivered or that delivery meets any quality of service. In a best-effort network, all users obtain best-effort service.
UDP speeds up transmissions by enabling the transfer of data before an agreement is provided by the receiving party. As a result, UDP is beneficial in time-sensitive communications, including voice over IP (VoIP), domain name system (DNS) lookup, and video or audio playback.
The Internet Protocol (IP) provides the basis for packet delivery and the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) provides a best-effort delivery mechanism using Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) techniques, but with no bounds on delivery time.
The best-effort model is a single-service model. The best-effort model is not as reliable as other models and does not guarantee delay-free delivery. The best-effort service model is the default model for the Internet and applies to most network applications. It uses the First In First Out (FIFO) queuing mechanism.
One word answer: yes, best-effort is the way to describe it.
Longer answer...
From RFC 768 - User Datagram Protocol...
This protocol provides a procedure for application programs to send
messages to other programs with a minimum of protocol mechanism. The
protocol is transaction oriented, and delivery and duplicate protection
are **not guaranteed**. (emphasis mine)
It's not really best effort, more fire and forget. Although the term "best effort" is actually used IMHO it's incorrect, since in non-telecoms usage it implies at least a modicum of effort beyond default behaviour, and often somewhat more than that.
No part of the network makes any special allowances for any IP packet except when there's Quality of Service in place, and even then that's really hop-by-hop rather than end-to-end.
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