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using UDP for file copies on Windows/Mac/Linux

Hi All.

We are looking to settle an argument in the office.

Using NFS with UDP to connect to a server and copy a file, if it drops packets, as there's no checks with UDP, will the application layer pick up there's been an error and let you know, or will it say everything is fine, and the copied file may be a few bytes short?

The arguments are:
: UDP doesn't do any checks, so the file will be short, and you wont know about it.
: Checks would be done at the application layer (windows explorer / Finder) to compare source/destination and display an error if the destination file is short.

The OS could be Win/OSX/Linux.

Thanks.

HugoHiasl

UDP is a fast unsecure protocol.

It is used if there are small amounts of data which are not critical. For example in Voice over IP it will be used because missing packets will only reduce the quality while requested retransmissions would interfer the communication until the data packet is re-requested and sent.

There is no real mechanism to control missed packages. This needs to be done by the application that uses UDP. But UDP supports sending a checksum to verify integrity of the single datagram.

To make sure that all data arrive in the correct order there is need to use a handshake protocol like TCP which uses sending and reception windows.

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