4 Internet Control Message Protocol for IPv6

4.1 Introduction

The Internet Control Message Protocol for IPv6 (ICMPv6) is similar to ICMP for IPv4 [RFC792]. [RFC2463] defines the basic ICMPv6 protocol messages. These messages defined in [RFC2463] are for purposes of error reporting and network diagnostics. For example, a node sends ICMPv6 messages to notify a packet source that the node has encountered errors while processing the packet. In addition, a node can utilize the ICMPv6 messages to perform a simple network reachability test.

Different from ICMP for IPv4, ICMPv6 provides a lot of important functions that are necessary for the IPv6 protocol operation. For example, the Neighbor Discovery Protocol, described in the next chapter, operates ...

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