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Adding short description: "Reduction in the flexibility of network protocol design due to middleboxes" (Shortdesc helper) |
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{{short description|Reduction in the flexibility of network protocol design due to middleboxes}}
'''Protocol ossification''' is a progressive reduction in the flexibility of [[network protocol]] design caused by the presence of [[middlebox]]es in the network which cannot easily be removed or upgraded to allow protocol changes. An example of this is the presence of [[firewall]] and [[carrier grade NAT]] middleboxes in the [[Internet]], where over-cautious checking of protocol fields has prevented the use of those fields for future protocol expansion.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Papastergiou|first=Giorgos|last2=Fairhurst|first2=Gorry|last3=Ros|first3=David|last4=Brunstrom|first4=Anna|last5=Grinnemo|first5=Karl-Johan|last6=Hurtig|first6=Per|last7=Khademi|first7=Naeem|last8=Tuxen|first8=Michael|last9=Welzl|first9=Michael|last10=Damjanovic|first10=Dragana|last11=Mangiante|first11=Simone|date=
Protocol ossification can be avoided by the use of [[encryption]] or [[tunnelling]] to hide the structure of new protocol extensions from older middleboxes.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://lwn.net/Articles/745590/|title=QUIC as a solution to protocol ossification|website=lwn.net|access-date=2020-03-14|first=Jonathan|last=Corbet|date=January 29, 2018}}</ref>
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