Stateless protocol (nonfiction)

In computing, a stateless protocol is a communications protocol in which no information is retained by either sender or receiver:

• The sender transmits a packet to the receiver and does not expect an acknowledgment of receipt
• The receiver to does not retain session information or status about each communications partner

A disadvantage of statelessness is that it may be necessary to include additional information in every request, and this extra information will need to be interpreted by the server.

A communications protocol which requires keeping of the internal state on the server is known as a stateful protocol. For example, a TCP connection-oriented session is a 'stateful' connection because both systems maintain information about the session itself during its life.

Nonfiction cross-reference

External links:

• Stateless protocol