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Network Layer:
Address Mapping,
Error Reporting,
and Multicasting
Prepared By:
Umakanta Majhi
Department of Computer Science & Engineering, NITS

ADDRESS MAPPING
The delivery of a packet to a host or a router requires
two levels of addressing: logical and physical. We need
to be able to map a logical address to its corresponding
physical address and vice versa. This can be done by
using either static or dynamic mapping.

Logical Address

Physical Address

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)

[logicalphysical]

- Cache Memory
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An ARP request is broadcast;

an ARP reply is unicast.

ARP Packet Format:

Encapsulation of ARP packet:

- Ethernet Frame
- The TYPE field indicates that the data carried by
the frame are an ARP packet.
Type field (value)

Meaning

0x8000

IPv4 packet

0x0806

ARP packet

0x8100

IEEE 802.1Q

0x86DD

IPv6

0x0835

RARP packet

Four cases using ARP:

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Proxy ARP

Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP)

Finds logical address for a machine that knows only its physical
address. (Physical -> Logical)
The IP address of a machine is usually read from its configuration
file stored on a disk file.
(Problem) for a diskless machine
Booted from ROM; has minimum booting information
ROM installed by manufacturer (can not include IP
address)
IP addresses on a network are assigned by the network
administrator
RARP requests are broadcast, RARP replies are unicast.
If a thin-client workstation needs to know its IP address, it
probably also needs to know its subnet mask, router address,
DNS address, etc. So we need something more than RARP.
BOOTP, and now DHCP have replaced RARP.
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RARP Operation:
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BOOTP (Bootstrap Protocol):

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A client/server protocol designed to provide physical

address to logical address mapping.

An application layer Protocol.

The administrator may put client and the server in the
same network or on different networks.

Messages are encapsulated in a UDP packet.

Client and Servers are application layer processes.
Relay agent.

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BOOTP client and server on the same and different networks:

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Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP):

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DHCP provides static and dynamic address allocation

that can be manual or automatic.
Static Address Allocation: acts as BOOTP; means a host
running the BOOTP client can request a static address
from a DHCP server. A DHCP server has a database that
statically binds physical addresses to IP addresses.

Dynamic Address Allocation: DHCP has a secondary

database

with

pool

of

available

(unused)

IP

addresses, when a DHCP client request for a temporary

IP addresses, the DHCP server assigns an IP address for a

negotiable period of time.
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Error Reporting
IP provides unreliable and connectionless datagram
delivery.
IP protocol is a best-effort delivery service that
delivers a datagram from its original source to its
final destination.
The IP protocol has no error-reporting or errorcorrecting mechanism.
The IP protocol lacks a mechanism for host and
management queries.
Thus the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)
has been designed to compensate the deficiencies

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of IP protocol.

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Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)

Error-Reporting Messages
Message
Query Messages

[General format of ICMP messages]

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(ICMP)
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Type: type of the message

Code: reason for the particular message type
Checksum: error detection
Data: carries information for finding the original packet
that had the error.
ICMP always reports error messages to the original source.

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(ICMP)
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Important points about ICMP error messages:

No

ICMP

error

message

will

be

generated

in

response to a datagram carrying an ICMP error

message.
No ICMP error message will be generated for a

fragmented datagram that is not the first fragment.

No ICMP error message will be generated for a
datagram having a multicast address.

No ICMP error message will be generated for a

datagram

having

127.0.0.0 or 0.0.0.0.
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special

address

such

as

(ICMP)
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Encapsulation of ICMP query messages

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Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP)

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The IP protocol can be involved in two types of

communication: unicasting and multicasting. The
Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) is one of
the necessary, but not sufficient, protocols that is
involved in multicasting. IGMP is a companion to the IP
protocol.
IGMP is a group management protocol. It helps a
multicast router create and update a list of loyal
members related to each router interface.

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(IGMP)
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[IGMP message format]

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(IGMP)
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IGMP Operation

Encapsulation of IGMP packet

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Query ?

Thank You