IP Protocol

The IP protocol and its associated routing protocols are possibly the most significant of the entire TCP/IP suite. IP is responsible for:

• IP addressing - The IP addressing conventions are part of the IP protocol. (Chapter 3, Planning Your Network, describes IP addressing in complete detail.)

• Host-to-host communications - IP determines the path a packet must take, based on the receiving host's IP address.

• Packet formatting - IP assembles packets into units known as IP datagrams. Datagrams are fully described in "Internet Layer".

• Fragmentation - If a packet is too large for transmission over the network media, IP on the sending host breaks the packet into smaller fragments. IP on the receiving host then reconstructs the fragments into the original packet.