Nagle’s Algorithm

Nagle’s algorithm is a means of improving the efficiency of TCP/IP networks by reducing the number of packets that need to be sent over the network.

Nagle’s algorithm works by combining a number of small outgoing messages and sending them all at once. Specifically, as long as there is a sent packet for which the sender has received no acknowledgment, the sender should keep buffering its output until it has a full packet’s worth of output, thus allowing output to be sent all at once.

It is enabled by default and can be disabled on a per-socket basis using the TCP_NODELAY option.

• https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc896
• https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagle%27s_algorithm
• 40 milliseconds of latency that just would not go away