Subject: [Hipsec] proposal for a few small changes to puzzle mechanism

From: [email-masked] (Jake Beal)
Date: Tue Jun 22 20:10:01 2004

Pekka writes:

>> - Add a new NOTIFY SERVER_BUSY_PLEASE_RETRY which the server MAY
>> send to the Initiator in case it is under severe load. Not mandatory
>> in which case the Initiator would act as if the I2 would have been
>> dropped by the network.
>
>I don't think it is useful to send NOTIFY before the server has
>verified the puzzle.

That's correct. The reason we want to add the new NOTIFY message is
so the server can tell a verified, deserving client that it has
lost this time, and should try again.

Correct puzzle solutions are essentially lottery tickets. If the
server is not overloaded doing work for verified clients, everybody wins. 
If the server is overloaded by verified clients, then some lottery
tickets lose. SERVER_BUSY_PLEASE_RETRY means you need to purchase
a new ticket (solve a new puzzle) because your old one has lost
(is being persistently dropped).

Thanks,
-Jake