The router is a wireless network device that helps transfer data to other connected devices. Do you know the mechanism behind the working process of a router? What happens when a router receives a packet with a TTL of 0?
TTL means Time-To-Live. You will find out all the details later. We will answer all your questions. This will help you troubleshoot any router issues in the future. There are many important things you should know. So, let’s jump in.
The working process of the router
What happens when a router receives a packet with a TTL of 0? First, you need to know the main concept behind the router’s working process. Let’s say your home router is connected to the PC. On the other hand, the router is also active within the Ethernet connection. The matter is not as simple as you see. Your home router is also connected to two other routers that are located with the ISP. There are two more systems connected to the two additional routers. This whole process completes a LAN network, the way a router works.
The data packet transfer process
When the home router receives a data packet from the main or local server, it scans the packet’s routing table. This helps determine the target IP address. The same compatible request of the data packet was already made a few seconds ago by the affected system. After matching the IP address, the data packet is sent to the relevant client/system.
ICMP, a brief overview
The Internet Control Message Protocol is a network layer and helps all network equipment to detect pending problems. Certain aspects are related to what happens when a router receives a packet with a TTL of 0? The most important aspect of the ICMP is to determine whether the data packets have reached their destination or not. In addition, the protocol also matches the value and checks whether it is zero or one.
The TTL – A general overview
A data packet can jump through the network. The amount of time data packets take to jump through the network until a router receives is known as the TTL. You must have a brief detail about the TTL if you want to know the answer to what happens when a router receives a packet with a TTL of 0? The TTL was designed for a specific reason. The hopping of the data packet can last a lifetime when it enters the infinite loop. The TTL concept was introduced to counter this.
Role of the router towards TTL(0)
The router drops the packet and delivers an ICMP TTL message to the main server. Here the main server is the host. Nevertheless, the host/main server will route the traffic over the network, but the transmitted data packets may not reach the correct destination system.
Now you answer the question what happens when a router receives a packet with a TTL of 0? When the TTL is 0, the host server has discarded the desired data packet and it will not reach the host.
The router ignores those data packets. When a data packet is sent from the server, it is normally 255. With each hop, 1 is subtracted each time. If your router drops the packet, it will become 0.
What happens if the TTL is 1?
Hopefully you have the answer to what happens when a router receives a packet with a TTL of 0? Now the value changes to 1 with the same question. When the TTL value is 1, the LSR ignores the packet and drops it. Furthermore, it also sends an ICMP message that the time has expired. The type is 11 with code 0 to the host server. The same process takes place when the TTL is 1 or the TTL is about to expire.
Conclusion
Hopefully you have understood the answer to the question what happens when a router receives a packet with a TTL of 0? Also, it looks like you had gone through the sections when the value was 1. It is quite easy to study these matters with a basic knowledge of computer networks. Make sure your router is working properly without losing data packets.