ICMP Time Exceeded

The Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is a supporting protocol in the . It is used by network devices, including routers, to send error messages and operational information indicating, for example, that a requested service is not available or that a host or router could not be reached. ICMP differs from transport protocols such as and in that it is not typically used to exchange data between systems, nor is it regularly employed by end-user network applications (with the exception of some diagnostic tools like ping and traceroute).

ICMP is defined in RFC 792.

The Internet Control Message Protocol is part of the , as defined in RFC 792. ICMP messages are typically used for diagnostic or control purposes or generated in response to errors in operations (as specified in RFC 1122). ICMP errors are directed to the source IP address of the originating packet.

For example, every device (such as an intermediate router) forwarding an IP datagram first decrements the time to live (TTL) field in the IP header by one. If the resulting TTL is 0, the packet is discarded and an ICMP Time To Live exceeded in transit message is sent to the datagram's source address.

Although ICMP messages are contained within standard IP packets, ICMP messages are usually processed as a special case, distinguished from normal IP processing, rather than processed as a normal sub-protocol of IP. In many cases, it is necessary to inspect the contents of the ICMP message and deliver the appropriate error message to the application responsible for transmission of the IP packet that prompted the sending of the ICMP message.

Many commonly used network utilities are based on ICMP messages. The traceroute command can be implemented by transmitting IP datagrams with specially set IP TTL header fields, and looking for ICMP Time to live exceeded in transit (above) and "Destination unreachable" messages generated in response. The related ping utility is implemented using the ICMP "Echo request" and "Echo reply" messages.

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