IP Datagram

Title Length Description

(Bits)

Version 4 Version Number

IHL 4 Internet Header Length

Type of Service 8 Specifies reliability, precedence, delay and

throughput parameters

Total Length 16 Total datagram length, including header in octets

Identification 16 Identifies a datagram

Flags 3 The first two bits are used to control

fragmentation and reassembly. (The third is not
currently used)

Fragment Offset 13 Indicates where in the datagram this fragment

belongs. Measured in 64-bit units; fragments
must contain a data field that is a multiple of 64
bits long.

Time to Live 8 Measured in one-second increments. Used if a

datagram takes too long to reach the destination, it
prevents undeliverable datagrams from roaming
the network indefinitely.

Protocol 8 Indicates the next level protocol that is to receive

the data field at the destination.

Header Check Sum 16 Performed on the header only, it is calculated

when the packet is sent and recalculated when the
packet is received. If there is a discrepancy, the
datagram is discarded

Source Address 32 Coded to allow a variable allocation of bits to

specify the network and the station within
specified network.

Destination Address 32 Same as for source address.

Options Variable Encodes the options requested by the sender

Padding Variable Ensures that the header ends on a 32-bit boundary

Data Variable Must be a multiple of 8 bits in length. Length of

data field plus header is a max. of 65,535 octets