Method and Apparatus for Efficient Path MTU Information Discovery and Storage

A method comprising:

• storing a first set of maximum transmission unit (MTU) values correlated with one or more first-hop routers;
• storing a second set of maximum transmission unit values correlated with one or more hosts;
• determining whether a particular destination host is one of said one or more hosts;
• in response to a determination that the particular destination host is one of said one or more hosts, retrieving a value from said second set for use as a path maximum transmission unit value;
• in response to a determination that the particular destination host is not one of said one or more hosts, retrieving a value from said first set for use as the path maximum transmission unit value;
• and
• transmitting a data packet having a size that is determined by the path maximum transmission unit value.

A computer program product comprising functional descriptive material that, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform actions that include:

• storing a set of maximum transmission unit (MTU) values associated with one or more first-hop routers;
• identifying a first-hop router on a network path to a destination host;
• determining a first-hop router maximum transmission unit value corresponding to the identified first-hop router;
• and
• attempting to transmit a data packet to the destination host through the network path, wherein a size of the data packet is defined by said first-hop router maximum transmission unit value.

A computer program product comprising functional descriptive material that, when executed by a computer, causes the computer to perform actions that include:

• storing a first set of maximum transmission unit (MTU) values correlated with one or more first-hop routers;
• storing a second set of maximum transmission unit values correlated with one or more hosts;
• determining whether a particular destination host is one of said one or more hosts;
• in response to a determination that the particular destination host is one of said one or more hosts, retrieving a value from said second set for use as a path maximum transmission unit value;
• in response to a determination that the particular destination host is not one of said one or more hosts, retrieving a value from said first set for use as the path maximum transmission unit value;
• and
• transmitting a data packet having a size that is determined by the path maximum transmission unit value.

A data processing system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• data storage accessible to the at least one processor;
• and
• a set of instructions in the data storage, wherein the at least one processor executes the set of instructions to perform actions that include:
• storing a set of maximum transmission unit (MTU) values associated with one or more first-hop routers;
• identifying a first-hop router on a network path to a destination host;
• determining a first-hop router maximum transmission unit value corresponding to the identified first-hop router;
• and
• attempting to transmit a data packet to the destination host through the network path, wherein a size of the data packet is defined by said first-hop router maximum transmission unit value.