The Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is one of the core protocols of the Internet Protocol Suite. It is chiefly used by the operating systems of networked computers to send error messages indicating, for example, that a requested service is not available or that a host or router could not be reached. ICMP can also be used to relay query messages. It is assigned protocol number 1.
ICMP differs from transport protocols such as TCP and UDP in that it is not typically used to exchange data between systems, nor is it regularly employed by end-user network applications (with the exception of some diagnostic tools like ping and traceroute).
ICMP for Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is also known as ICMPv4. IPv6 has a similar protocol, ICMPv6.
| Internet protocols |
|---|
| Application layer |
|
| Transport layer |
|
| Routing protocols * |
|
| Internet layer |
|
| Link layer |
|
| * Not a layer. A routing protocol belongs either to application or network layer. |
Read more about Internet Control Message Protocol: Technical Details
Famous quotes containing the words control and/or message:
“Knowledge in the form of an informational commodity indispensable to productive power is already, and will continue to be, a major—perhaps the major—stake in the worldwide competition for power. It is conceivable that the nation-states will one day fight for control of information, just as they battled in the past for control over territory, and afterwards for control over access to and exploitation of raw materials and cheap labor.”
—Jean François Lyotard (b. 1924)
“I will meditate the while upon some horrid message for a challenge.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)