The Logical Protocol Unit: Towards an optimal communication protocol
Erich Schikuta
Abstract
The performance of large software systems based on a server-slave architecture depends heavily on the design of the interprocess communication (IPC) protocol. In this paper different approaches of the logical structure of the protocol of the IPC communication are proposed and analyzed. 
The term of a logical protocol unit (LPU) is defined. All basic actions of the software system are logically grouped into units and transferred jointly via the interprocess communication facilities of the underlying operating system. 
An algorithm is given for the calculation of specific LPUs.
It is shown that the total performance of the whole system is affected dramatically by different logical protocol structures; increased by larger logical protocol units and decreased by smaller one.
This result is applicable to all types of IPC based systems, as beneath all large industrial applications. It was tested and analyzed with an existing relational data base system.