Discard Protocol

<p>The Discard Protocol is a service in the <a href="/facts/Internet_Protocol_Suite/KNkxtSpw">Internet Protocol Suite</a> defined in 1983 in <a href="/facts/RFC_(identifier)/esftTvE7">RFC</a> <a href="https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc863">863</a> by <a href="/facts/Jon_Postel/7FIv4teq">Jon Postel</a>. It was designed for testing, debugging, measurement, and host-management purposes.
</p><p>A host may send data to a host that supports the Discard Protocol on either <a href="/facts/Transmission_Control_Protocol/WW4sPrt9">Transmission Control Protocol</a> (TCP) or <a href="/facts/User_Datagram_Protocol/dxLU0D6q">User Datagram Protocol</a> (UDP) <a href="/facts/Port_number/ygoHVKNC">port number</a> 9. The data sent to the server is simply discarded. No response is returned. For this reason, UDP is usually used, but TCP allows the services to be accessible on session-oriented connections (for example via <a href="/facts/Hypertext_Transfer_Protocol/TWtvf7JD">HTTP</a> proxies or some <a href="/facts/Virtual_private_network/HX1WUQ3E">virtual private network</a> (VPN)).
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Discard Protocol open-in-new

Discard Protocol