I suggest that for debugging and measurement purposes those hosts which are willing implement an "Echo" process. This echo process would listen for a request for connection and execute the Initial Connection Protocol (ICP) as specified in NIC 7104 the "Current Network Protocols" notebook. Upon completion of the ICP the echo process would wait for data from the network. When the data is received from the network it is echoed at once, (and the buffer space is re-allocated). By echoed I mean that the data received is sent back over the network, bit for bit with no modification by the echo process. The echo process is terminated by closing the network connections. Note that BBN-TENEX has had such an echo process available for use for a long time.
[ This RFCwas put into machine readable form for entry ] [ into the online RFCarchives by BBN Corp. under the ] [ direction of Alex McKenzie. 12/96 ]
