Mechanisms for providing requested data items in a request-driven enumeration session while retaining control over how much inter-message context information is retained by the data provider. Upon receiving a request for the data items, the data provider identifies a portion of the data items to be provided in the first response along with context information that reflects that the first portion of information has been provided. The data provider then makes a determination of how much of the context is to be provided to the data receiver system, and then provides that appropriate context information to the data receiver. Furthermore, the data provider provides a response that includes the first portion of the data items. The data receiver includes this first provided context information in the second request for the next portion of the data items, allowing continuity in the data transfer session.