RFC 792 (rfc792) - Page 2 of 21
Internet Control Message Protocol
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
September 1981
RFC 792
Message Formats
ICMP messages are sent using the basic IP header. The first octet of
the data portion of the datagram is a ICMP type field; the value of
this field determines the format of the remaining data. Any field
labeled "unused" is reserved for later extensions and must be zero
when sent, but receivers should not use these fields (except to
include them in the checksum). Unless otherwise noted under the
individual format descriptions, the values of the internet header
fields are as follows:
Version
4
IHL
Internet header length in 32-bit words.
Type of Service
0
Total Length
Length of internet header and data in octets.
Identification, Flags, Fragment Offset
Used in fragmentation, see [1].
Time to Live
Time to live in seconds; as this field is decremented at each
machine in which the datagram is processed, the value in this
field should be at least as great as the number of gateways which
this datagram will traverse.
Protocol
ICMP = 1
Header Checksum
The 16 bit one's complement of the one's complement sum of all 16
bit words in the header. For computing the checksum, the checksum
field should be zero. This checksum may be replaced in the
future.