Chapter 8. IP: Internet Protocol
8.1. Introduction
In this chapter we describe the structure of an IP packet and the basic IP processing including input, forwarding, and output. We assume that the reader is familiar with the basic operation of the IP protocol. For more background on IP, see Chapters 3, 9 and 12 of Volume 1. RFC 791 [Postel 1981a] is the official specification for IP. RFC 1122 [Braden 1989a] contains clarifications of RFC 791.
In Chapter 9 we discuss option processing and in Chapter 10 we discuss fragmentation and reassembly. Figure 8.1 illustrates the general organization of the IP layer.
Figure 8.1. IP layer processing.
We saw in Chapter 4 how network interfaces place incoming IP packets on ...
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