Introduction to ICMP
The two main functions of the Internet layer are routing and error handling. Routing data packets to the corresponding destination is the function of IP. IP works with another protocol called Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) (see Figure 4.1) to report errors during data transmission. ICMP reports errors to the Transport layer protocol that was involved in the data transmission. That is, ICMP can be used only for fault isolation and not for error correction. ICMP messages can also be used to troubleshoot and optimize the performance of a network. The standards for ICMP are defined in RFC 792.
Figure 4.1. ICMP operates along with IP from the Internet layer in the TCP/IP reference model.
→ For information ...
Get Special Edition Using TCP/IP, Second Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
