6 Appendix A: Product Behavior
The information in this specification is applicable to the following Microsoft products or supplemental software. References to product versions include updates to those products.
Windows 7 operating system
Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system
Windows 8 operating system
Windows Server 2012 operating system
Windows 8.1 operating system
Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system
Windows 10 operating system
Windows Server 2016 operating system
Windows Server operating system
Windows Server 2019 operating system
Windows Server 2022 operating system
Windows 11 operating system
Exceptions, if any, are noted in this section. If an update version, service pack or Knowledge Base (KB) number appears with a product name, the behavior changed in that update. The new behavior also applies to subsequent updates unless otherwise specified. If a product edition appears with the product version, behavior is different in that product edition.
Unless otherwise specified, any statement of optional behavior in this specification that is prescribed using the terms "SHOULD" or "SHOULD NOT" implies product behavior in accordance with the SHOULD or SHOULD NOT prescription. Unless otherwise specified, the term "MAY" implies that the product does not follow the prescription.
<1> Section 3.1.2: Windows performs periodic cache maintenance every 15 seconds when the number of cache entries is more than 2; otherwise, it performs periodic cache maintenance every 10 seconds.
<2> Section 3.1.4.2: Windows picks ten (or as many as exist, if less than ten) randomly chosen nodes that are in the Route Entry Cache (see sections 3.1.1 and 3.2.1.1).
<3> Section 3.1.6.1: Windows attempts to maintain a cache of at least 10 route entries (or all route entries in the cloud, if there are fewer than 10), the keys of which are evenly distributed around the number space.
<4> Section 3.2.1.1: Windows achieves Requirement 1 by implementing a multi-level cache where each cache level contains a fixed number of keys that covers a progressively smaller fragment of the total key space. The lowest level of the cache (which is the leaf set) is the densest and it is centered on a key published by the local node.
<5> Section 3.2.6.2: Windows attempts to "balance" its cache. Balancing the cache involves checking each cache level to determine that no large gaps exist between entries. The allowable gap size depends on the cache level; it is expected to be smaller for each level down. If a large gap is found, an attempt is made to fill it by sending a LOOKUP message for a key in the middle of the gap. The precision level of the LOOKUP message match is set to be just sufficient to fill the gap.