I see nothing wrong with the concept of being allocated an initial chunk and having the scan software attempt to ACK it when 50% of it has been searched. A successful ACK would allow the releasing of a new chunk (in response) equal in size to the returned chunk. A failure of the Server to accept the ACK would trigger a retry at set intervals (such as 75% and 100% or 60/70/80/90/100%) until the Server responds. Thus the scanner is always in possession of a Full Sized Chuck to scan (so long as the Server accepts an ACK before the 100% done mark) and temporary failures will not stop the process of a scanner as currently happens.

The only way this can work is if the server is told it is a 50%/75%/etc size ACK, and then latter the server is ACKed for the full 100%. Why? Because what happens if the client dies immediately after doing the ACK - maybe only 51% of that space has been searched, yet the server has already seen an ACK for it. IMO - a % ACK is to much complexity and extra work on the server, which is already having trouble keeping up. Dan ------------------------------------------------------------------ Dan Oelke Alcatel Network Systems droelke@aud.alcatel.com Richardson, TX