Configuring TCP MSS Adjustment

• Restrictions for TCP MSS Adjustment, on page 1

• Information about TCP MSS Adjustment, on page 1
• Configuring the MSS Value for Transient TCP SYN Packets, on page 2
• Configuring the MSS Value for IPv6 Traffic, on page 3
• Example: Configuring the TCP MSS Adjustment for IPv6 traffic, on page 3
• Feature History for TCP MSS Adjustment, on page 3

Restrictions for TCP MSS Adjustment

• Subinterfaces do not support TCP MSS Adjust.
• TCP MSS adjustment works only on the ingress packet capture and not on the egress packet capture of
a TCP stream on a Layer 3 GRE tunnel.

Information about TCP MSS Adjustment

The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) Maximum Segment Size (MSS) Adjustment feature enables the
configuration of the maximum segment size for transient packets that traverse a router, specifically TCP
segments with the SYN bit set. Use the ip tcp adjust-mss command in interface configuration mode to specify
the MSS value on the intermediate router of the SYN packets to avoid truncation.
When a host (usually a PC) initiates a TCP session with a server, it negotiates the IP segment size by using
the MSS option field in the TCP SYN packet. The value of the MSS field is determined by the MTU
configuration on the host. The default MSS value for a PC is 1500 bytes.
The PPP over Ethernet (PPPoE) standard supports an MTU of only 1492 bytes. The disparity between the
host and PPPoE MTU size can cause the router in between the host and the server to drop 1500-byte packets
and terminate TCP sessions over the PPPoE network. Even if the path MTU (which detects the correct MTU
across the path) is enabled on the host, sessions may be dropped because system administrators sometimes
disable the ICMP error messages that must be relayed from the host in order for path MTU to work.
The ip tcp adjust-mss command helps prevent TCP sessions from being dropped by adjusting the MSS value
of the TCP SYN packets.
The ip tcp adjust-mss command is effective only for TCP connections passing through the router.

Configuring TCP MSS Adjustment

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 Configuring TCP MSS Adjustment
Configuring the MSS Value for Transient TCP SYN Packets

In most cases, the optimum value for the max-segment-size argument of the ip tcp adjust-mss command is
1452 bytes. This value plus the 20-byte IP header, the 20-byte TCP header, and the 8-byte PPPoE header add
up to a 1500-byte packet that matches the MTU size for the Ethernet link.

Supported Interfaces
TCP MSS Adjust is supported only on the following interfaces:
• Physical Layer 3 interface
• SVI
• Layer 3 port channel
• Layer 3 GRE tunnel

Configuring the MSS Value for Transient TCP SYN Packets

Before you begin
Perform this task to configure the MSS for transient packets that traverse a router, specifically TCP segments
with the SYN bit set.
We recommend that you use the ip tcp adjust-mss 1452 command.

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 enable Enables privileged EXEC mode.
Example: Enter your password if prompted
Device>enable

Step 2 configure terminal Enters the global configuration mode.

Example:
Device#config terminal

Step 3 interface type number Configures an interface type and enters interface
configuration mode.
Example:
Device(config)#interface GigabitEthernet
1/0/0

Step 4 ip tcp adjust-mss max-segment-size Adjusts the MSS value of TCP SYN packets
going through a router.
Example:
Device(config-if)#ip tcp adjust-mss 1452 The max-segment-size argument is the
maximum segment size, in bytes. The range is
from 500 to 1460.

Step 5 end Exits to global configuration mode.

Example:

Configuring TCP MSS Adjustment

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 Configuring TCP MSS Adjustment
Configuring the MSS Value for IPv6 Traffic

Command or Action Purpose

Device(config-if)#end

Configuring the MSS Value for IPv6 Traffic

Procedure

Command or Action Purpose

Step 1 enable Enables privileged EXEC mode.
Example: Enter your password if prompted
Device>enable

Step 2 configure terminal Enters the global configuration mode.

Example:
Device#config terminal

Step 3 interface type number Configures an interface type and enters interface
configuration mode.
Example:
Device(config)#interface GigabitEthernet
1/0/0

Step 4 ipv6 tcp adjust-mss max-segment-size Adjusts the MSS value of TCP DF packets
going through a device.
Example:
Device(config-if)#ipv6 tcp adjust-mss The max-segment-size argument is the
1440 maximum segment size, in bytes. The range is
from 40 to 1440.

Step 5 end Exits interface configuration mode and returns

to privileged EXEC mode.
Example:
Device(config-if)#end

Example: Configuring the TCP MSS Adjustment for IPv6 traffic

Device>enable
Device#configure terminal
Device(config)#interface GigabitEthernet 0/0/0
Device(config)#ipv6 tcp adjust-mss 1440
Device(config)#end

Feature History for TCP MSS Adjustment

This table provides release and related information for the features explained in this module.

Configuring TCP MSS Adjustment

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 Configuring TCP MSS Adjustment
Feature History for TCP MSS Adjustment

These features are available in all the releases subsequent to the one they were introduced in, unless noted
otherwise.

Release Feature Feature Information

Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.9.2 Transmission Control The TCP MSS Adjustment feature enables the
Protocol (TCP) configuration of the maximum segment size for
Maximum Segment Size transient packets that traverse a router, specifically
(MSS) Adjustment TCP segments with the SYN bitset. This feature
helps prevent TCP sessions from being dropped by
adjusting the MSS value of the TCP SYN packets.

Use the Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform and software image support. To access
Cisco Feature Navigator, go to http://www.cisco.com/go/cfn.

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