Network layer

The network layer is the third layer (from bottom) in the OSI Model. The network layer is
concerned with the delivery of a packet across multiple networks. The network layer is
considered the backbone of the OSI Model. It selects and manages the best logical path for
data transfer between nodes. This layer contains hardware devices such as routers, bridges,
firewalls, and switches, but it actually creates a logical image of the most efficient
communication route and implements it with a physical medium. Network layer protocols
exist in every host or router. The router examines the header fields of all the IP packets that
pass through it. Internet Protocol and Netware IPX/SPX are the most common protocols
associated with the network layer.
In the OSI model, the network layer responds to requests from the layer above it (transport
layer) and issues requests to the layer below it (data link layer).

Network Layer in OSI Model

Selects Transport
Logical Path Layer

Manages
Network Data Link
Data
Layer Layer
Transfer

Hardware
Devices

Responsibilities of Network Layer:

Packet forwarding/Routing of packets: Relaying of data packets from one network segment
to another by nodes in a computer network
Connectionless communication(IP): A data transmission method used in packetswitched
networks in which each data unit is separately addressed and routed based on information
carried by it
Fragmentation of data packets: Splitting of data packets that are too large to be transmitted
on the network
There are two types of network transmission techniques, circuit switched network and packet
switched network.

Variable
Efficiency
High Efficiency
Flexible Data
Path
Fixed Data Path
Shared
Connection
Dedicated
Connection

Packet Switched
Network
Circuit Switched
Network

Comparing Network Transmission Techniques

Circuit Switch vs Packet Switch

In circuit switched network, a single path is designated for transmission of all the data
packets. Whereas in case of a packet-switched network, each packet may be sent through a
different path to reach the destination.
In a circuit switched network, the data packets are received in order whereas in a packet
switched network, the data packets may be received out of order.
The packet switching is further subdivided into Virtual circuits and Datagram.

Which network switching method should be used?

Packet Switching
Allows packets to take different
paths, potentially improving
efficiency.

Circuit Switching
Ensures data packets are received
in order through a single path.

IPv4:
IPv4 is a connectionless protocol used for packet-switched networks. It operates on a best
effort delivery model, in which neither delivery is guaranteed, nor proper sequencing or
avoidance of duplicate delivery is assured. Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) is the fourth
revision of the Internet Protocol and a widely used protocol in data communication over
different kinds of networks. IPv4 is a connectionless protocol used in packet-switched layer
networks, such as Ethernet. It provides a logical connection between network devices by
providing identification for each device. There are many ways to configure IPv4 with all kinds
of devices – including manual and automatic configurations – depending on the network
type.
IPv4 is defined and specified in IETF publication RFC 791.
IPv4 uses 32 -bit addresses for Ethernet communication in five classes: A, B, C, D and E.
Classes A, B and C have a different bit length for addressing the network host. Class D
addresses are reserved for military purposes, while class E addresses are reserved for future
use.
IPv4 uses 32 -bit (4 byte) addressing, which gives 232 addresses. IPv4 addresses are written in
the dot -decimal notation, which comprises of four octets of the address expressed
individually in decimal and separated by periods, for instance, [Link].

IPv4 Datagram Header

Size of the header is 20 to 60 bytes.
VERSION: Version of the IP protocol (4 bits), which is 4 for IPv4
HLEN: IP header length (4 bits), which is the number of 32 bit words in the header. The
minimum value for this field is 5 and the maximum is 15 .
Type of service: Low Delay, High Throughput, Reliability (8 bits)
Total Length: Length of header + Data (16 bits), which has a minimum value 20 bytes and the
maximum is 65,535 bytes.
Identification: Unique Packet Id for identifying the group of fragments of a single IP datagram
(16 bits)
Flags: 3 flags of 1 bit each : reserved bit (must be zero), do not fragment flag, more fragments
flag (same order)
Fragment Offset: Represents the number of Data Bytes ahead of the particular fragment in the
particular Datagram. Specified in terms of number of 8 bytes, which has the maximum value
of 65,528 bytes.
Time to live: Datagram's lifetime (8 bits), It prevents the datagram to loop through the
network by restricting the number of Hops taken by a Packet before delivering to the
Destination.
Protocol: Name of the protocol to which the data is to be passed (8 bits)
Header Checksum: 16 bits header checksum for checking errors in the datagram header
Source IP address: 32 bits IP address of the sender
Destination IP address: 32 bits IP address of the receiver
Option: Optional information such as source route, record route. Used by the Network
administrator to check whether a path is working or not.

Classful Addressing
The 32 bit IP address is divided into five sub -classes. These are:
• · Class A
• · Class B
• · Class C
• · Class D
• · Class E

Which IP address class should be used for network configuration?

Class C
Best for small networks with
fewer hosts.

Class B
Ideal for medium-sized
networks with a balance of Class D
networks and hosts.
Used for multicast addressing.

Class A
Class E
Suitable for large networks
with many hosts. Reserved for future use.

Each of these classes has a valid range of IP addresses. Classes D and E are reserved for
multicast and experimental purposes respectively. The order of bits in the first octet
determine the classes of IP address. IPv4 address is divided into two parts:

· Network ID
• · Host ID
The class of IP address is used to determine the bits used for network ID and host ID and the
number of total networks and hosts possible in that particular class. Each ISP or network
administrator assigns IP address to each device that is connected to its network.
Note: IP addresses are globally managed by Internet Assigned Numbers Authority(IANA) and
regional Internet registries(RIR).
Note: While finding the total number of host IP addresses, 2 IP addresses are not counted and
are therefore, decreased from the total count because the first IP
address of any network is the network number and whereas the last IP address is reserved
for broadcast IP.

Class A:
IP address belonging to class A are assigned to the networks that contain a large number of
hosts.
• · The network ID is 8 bits long.
• · The host ID is 24 bits long.
The higher order bit of the first octet in class A is always set to 0. The remaining 7 bits in first
octet are used to determine network ID. The 24 bits of host ID are used to determine the host
in any network. The default subnet mask for class A is 255.x.x.x. Therefore, class A has a total
of:
• · 2^7 -2= 126 network ID(Here 2 address is subtracted because [Link] and 127.x.y.z are
special address. )
• · 2^24 – – 2 = 16,777,214 host ID
IP addresses belonging to class A ranges from 1.x.x.x – 126.x.x.x

Class B:
IP address belonging to class B are assigned to the networks that ranges from medium -sized
to large-sized networks.
• · The network ID is 16 bits long.
• · The host ID is 16 bits long.
The higher order bits of the first octet of IP addresses of class B are always set to 10. The
remaining 14 bits are used to determine network ID. The 16 bits of host ID is used to
determine the host in any network. The default sub-net mask for class B is 255.255.x.x. Class B
has a total of:
• · 2^14 = 16384 network address
• · 2^16 – – 2 = 65534 host address
IP addresses belonging to class B ranges from 128.0.x.x – 191.255.x.x.

Class C:
IP address belonging to class C are assigned to small-sized networks.
• · The network ID is 24 bits long.
• · The host ID is 8 bits long.
The higher order bits of the first octet of IP addresses of class C are always set to 110. The
remaining 21 bits are used to determine network ID. The 8 bits of host ID is used to determine
the host in any network. The default sub-net mask for class C is 255.255.255.x. Class C has a
total of:
• · 2^21 = 2097152 network address
• · 2^8 – – 2 = 254 host address
IP addresses belonging to class C ranges from 192.0.0.x – 223.255.255.x.

Class D:
IP address belonging to class D are reserved for multi-casting. The higher order bits of the
first octet of IP addresses belonging to class D are always set to 1110. The remaining bits are
for the address that interested hosts recognize.
Class D does not posses any sub-net mask. IP addresses belonging to class D ranges from
[Link] – – [Link].

Class E:
IP addresses belonging to class E are reserved for experimental and research purposes. IP
addresses of class E ranges from [Link] – [Link]. This class doesn't have any
sub-net mask. The higher order bits of first octet of class E are always set to 1111.
Range of special IP addresses:
[Link] – – [Link] : Link local addresses
[Link] – –
[Link] : Loop-back addresses
[Link] – – [Link] : used to communicate within the current network.
Rules for assigning Host ID:
Host ID's are used to identify a host within a network. The host ID are assigned based on the
following rules:
• · Within any network, the host ID must be unique to that network.
• · Host ID in which all bits are set to 0 cannot be assigned because this host ID is used
to represent the network ID of the IP address.
• · Host ID in which all bits are set to 1 cannot be assigned because this host ID is
reserved as a broadcast address to send packets to all the hosts present on that
particular network.

Rules for assigning Network ID:

Hosts that are located on the same physical network are identified by the network ID, as all
host on the same physical network is assigned the same network ID. The network ID is
assigned based on the following rules:
• · The network ID cannot start with 127 because 127 belongs to class A address and is
reserved for internal loop-back functions.
• · All bits of network ID set to 1 are reserved for use as an IP broadcast address and
therefore, cannot be used.
• · All bits of network ID set to 0 are used to denote a specific host on the local network
and are not routed and therefore, aren't used.

Summary of Classful addressing :

Problems with Classful Addressing:

The problem with this classful addressing method is that millions of class A address are
wasted, many of the class B address are wasted, whereas, number of addresses available in
class C is so small that it cannot cater the needs of organizations. Class D addresses are used
for multicast routing and are therefore available as a single block only. Class E addresses are
reserved.
Since there are these problems, Classful networking w was replaced by Classless InterDomain
Routing (CIDR) in 1993. We will be discussing Classless addressing in next post.

Subnetting:
When a bigger network is divided into smaller networks, in order to maintain security, then
that is known as Subnetting. so, maintenance is easier for smaller networks.
Now, let’s talk about dividing a network into two parts:
so to divide a network into two parts, you need to choose one bit for each Subnet from the
host ID part.
In the above diagram, there are two Subnets.
Note: It is a class C IP so, there are 24 bits in the network id part and 8 bits in the host id part.
• · For Subnet -1:
The first bit which is chosen from the host id part is zero and the range will be from
(193.1.2.00000000 till you get all 1's in the host ID part i.e, 193.1.2.01111111) except for the first bit
which is chosen zero for subnet id part.
Thus, the range of subnet-1:
[Link] to [Link]
• · For Subnet -2:
The first bit chosen from the host id part is one and the range will be from (193.1.2.100000000
till you get all 1's in the host ID part i.e, 193.1.2.11111111).
Thus, the range of subnet-2:
[Link] to [Link]
Note:
• To divide a network into four (22) parts you need to choose two bits from host id part
for each subnet i.e, (00, 01, 10, 11).
• To divide a network into eight (23) parts you need to choose three bits from host id
part for each subnet i.e, (000, 001, 010, 011, 100, 101, 110, 111) and so on

Supernetting in Network Layer:

Supernetting is the opposite of Subnetting. In subnetting, a single big network is divided into
multiple smaller subnetworks. In Supernetting, multiple networks are combined into a bigger
network termed as a Supernetwork or Supernet.
Supernetting is mainly used in Route Summarization, where routes to multiple networks with
similar network prefixes are combined into a single routing entry, with the routing entry
pointing to a Super network, encompassing all the networks. This in turn significantly reduces
the size of routing tables and also the size of routing updates exchanged by routing
protocols.
More specifically,
• · When multiple networks are combined to form a bigger network, it is termed super
-netting
• · Super netting is used in route aggregation to reduce the size of routing tables and
routing table updates
There are some points which should be kept in mind while supernetting:
• All the Networks should be contiguous.
• The block size of every network should be equal and must be in form of 2n .
• First Network id should be exactly divisible by whole size of supernet.
Example – – Suppose 4 small networks of class C:
[Link],
[Link],
[Link],
[Link]
Build a bigger network that has a single Network Id.
Explanation – – Before Supernetting routing table will look like as:
Network IdSubnet MaskInterface
200.1.0.0255.255.255.0A
Network IdSubnet MaskInterface
200.1.1.0255.255.255.0B
200.1.2.0255.255.255.0C
200.1.3.0255.255.255.0D
First, let’s check whether three conditions are satisfied or not:

Network Supernetting

Network Addresses

Network Range

Network Size

Supernet

• Contiguous: You can easily see that all networks are contiguous all having size 256
hosts.
• Range of first Network from [Link] to [Link]. If you add 1 in last IP address of
first network that is [Link] + [Link], you will get the next network id which is
[Link]. Similarly, check that all network are contiguous.
• Equal size of all network: As all networks are of class C, so all of them have a size of
256 which is in turn equal to 28 .
• First IP address exactly divisible by total size: When a binary number is divided by 2n
then last n bits are the remainder. Hence in order to prove that first IP address is
exactly divisible by while size of Supernet Network. You can check that if last n v=bits
are 0 or not.
In the given example first IP is [Link] and whole size of supernet is 4*28 = 210. If last 10 bits
of first IP address are zero then IP will be divisible.
• Last 10 bits of first IP address are zero (highlighted by green color). So 3rd condition is
also satisfied.
• Control and reduce network traffic
• Helpful to solve the problem of lacking IP addresses
• Minimizes the routing table
• · It cannot cover a different area of the network when combined
• · All the networks should be in the same class and all IP should be contiguous

Classless Addressing
To reduce the wastage of IP addresses in a block, we use sub-netting. What we do is that we
use host id bits as net id bits of a classful IP address. We give the IP address and define the
number of bits for mask along with it (usually followed by a '/' symbol), like, [Link]/28.
Here, subnet mask is found by putting the given number of bits out of 32 as 1, like, in the
given address, we need to put 28 out of 32 bits as 1 and the rest as 0, and so, the subnet
mask would be [Link].

Some values calculated in subnetting :

• Number of subnets : Given bits for mask – No. of bits in default mask
• Subnet address : AND result of subnet mask and the given IP address
• Broadcast address : By putting the host bits as 1 and retaining the network bits as in the
IP address
• Number of hosts per subnet : 2(32 – Given bits for mask) – 2
• First Host ID : Subnet address + 1 (adding one to the binary representation of the
subnet address)
• Last Host ID : Subnet address + Number of Hosts
Example : Given IP Address – [Link]/25, find the number of subnets and the number of
hosts per subnet. Also, for the first subnet block, find the subnet address, first host ID, last
host ID and broadcast address.
Solution : This is a class B address. So, no. of subnets = 2(25 -16) = 29 = 512.
No. of hosts per subnet = 2(32 -25) – 2 = 27 – 2 = 128 – – 2 = 126

IPv6:
IP address is your digital identity. It's a network address for your computer so the Internet
knows w where to send you emails, data, etc.
IP address determines who and where you are in the network of billions of digital devices
that are connected to the Internet.
IPv6 or Internet Protocol Version 6 is a network layer protocol that allows communication to
take place over the network. IPv6 was designed by Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in
December 1998 with the purpose of superseding the IPv4 due to the global exponentially
growing internet users.

IPv4 vs IPv6
The common type of IP address (is known as IPv4, for "version 4"). Here's an example of what
an IP address might look like:
[Link]
An IPv4 address consists of four numbers, each of which contains one to three digits, with a
single dot (.) separating each number or set of digits. Each of t the four numbers can range
from 0 to 255. This group of separated numbers creates the addresses that let you and
everyone around the globe to send and retrieve data over our Internet connections. The IPv4
uses a 32 -bit address scheme allowing to store 2^32 addresses which is more than 4 billion
addresses. To date, it is considered the primary Internet Protocol and carries 94% of Internet
traffic.
Initially, it was assumed it would never run out of addresses but the present situation paves a
new way to IPv6, let's see why?
An IPv6 address consists of eight groups of four hexadecimal digits. Here's an example IPv6
address:
3001:0da8:75a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334
This new IP address version is being deployed to fulfill the need for more Internet addresses.
It w was aimed to resolve issues which are associated with IPv4. With 128 -bit address space,
it allows 340 undecillion unique address space. IPv6 also called IPng (Internet Protocol next
generation).
IPv6 support a theoretical maximum of 340, 282, 366, 920, 938, 463, 463, 374, 607, 431, 768,
211, 456. To keep it straightforward, we will never run out of IP addresses again.

Types of IPv6 Address

Now that we know about what is IPv6 address let’s take a look at its different types.

· Unicast addresses
It identifies a unique node on a network and usually refers to a single sender or a single
receiver.

· Multicast addresses
It represents a group of IP devices and can only be used as the destination of a datagram.
• · Anycast addresses
It is assigned to a set of interfaces that typically belong to different nodes.

Advantages of IPv6
• · Reliability
• · Faster Speeds: IPv6 supports multicast rather than broadcast in [Link] feature
allows bandwidth -intensive packet flows (like multimedia streams) to be sent to
multiple destinations all at once.
• · Stringer Security: IPSecurity, which provides confidentiality, and data integrity, is
embedded into IPv6.
• · Routing efficiency
• · Most importantly it's the final solution for growing nodes in Global-network.

Disadvantages of IPv6
• · Conversion: Due to widespread present usage of IPv4 it will take a long period to
completely shift to IPv6.
• · Communication: IPv4 and IPv6 machines cannot communicate directly with each
other. They need an intermediate technology to make that possible.

IP version 6 Header Format :

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is one of the major protocol of the TCP/IP protocol suite.
The main goal of Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is to map an IPv4 address (32-bit Logical
Address) to its corresponding MAC Address (48-bit Physical Address). Network Applications
use IPv4 Address to communicate with another device at the Application Layer. Datalink layer
deal with MAC address (48 bit Physical Address) for addressing, and this address (physical
address) is configured into the network card of the system permanently.
Here, we are providing the complete study notes on the Basic IP Support Protocols for the
preparation of GATE, Computer Science Engineering Exam.
Note -The main r responsibility of ARP is to translate IP address into physical address.
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Note: ARP determines the hardware address/physical address, also called Media Access
Control (MAC) address, of a host from its well-known IP address.
The important terms associated with ARP are :
• ARP Cache: After resolving MAC address, the ARP sends it to the source where it stores
in a table for future reference. The subsequent communications can use the MAC
address from the table
• ARP Cache Timeout: It indicates the time for which the MAC address in the ARP cache
can reside
• ARP request: This is nothing but broadcasting a packet over the network to validate
whether we came across destination MAC address or not.

ARP request packet contains:

•The physical address of the sender.
•The IP address of the sender.
•The physical address of the receiver is 0s.
•The IP address of the receiver
Note, that the ARP packet is encapsulated directly into data link frame.
• ARP response/reply: It is the MAC address response that the source receives from the
destination which aids in further communication of the data.

Cases when ARP is used:

• · CASE -1: The sender is a host and wants to send a packet to another host on the same
network.
• o Use ARP to find another host's physical address
• · CASE -2: The sender is a host and wants to send a packet to another host on another
network.
• o Sender looks at its routing table.
• o Find the IP address of the next hop (router) for this destination.
• o Use ARP to find the router's physical address
• · CASE -3: the sender is a router and received a datagram destined for a host on
another network.
• o Router check its routing table.
• o Find the IP address of the next router.
• o Use ARP to find the next router's physical address.
• · CASE -4: The sender is a router that has received a datagram destined for a host in
the same network.
• o Use ARP to find this host's physical address.
NOTE: An ARP request is a broadcast, and an ARP response is a Unicast.

2. DHCP: The Network Management Protocol That Provides You an

IP Address

What is Dynamic host configuration protocol?

• · Dynamic – – Automatically
• · Host – – Any computer that is connected to the network
• · Configuration – To configure a host means to provide network information(ip
address, subnet mask, Gateway address) to a host
• · Protocol – Set of rules
Basically, the main role of a DHCP server is to configure a host in a network dynamically.
In simple words, DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) can be defined as a set of rules
that is responsible for dynamic configuration and management of host in a network. It
dynamically assigns an IP address and other network managing parameters toa system so
that it can communicate with other devices (IP networks).
It is an application layer protocol which provides:
• Subnet Mask (Option 1 – e.g., [Link])
• Router Address (Option 3 – e.g., [Link])
• DNS Address (Option 6 – – e.g., [Link])
• Vendor Class Identifier (Option 43 – – e.g., 'unifi' = [Link] ##where unifi =
controller)
DHCP is based on a client -server model and based on discovery, offer, request, and ACK.
Advantages – – The advantages of using DHCP include:
• · centralized management of IP addresses
• · ease of adding new clients to a network
• · reuse of IP addresses reducing the total number of IP addresses that are required
• · simple reconfiguration of the IP address space on the DHCP server without needing
to reconfigure each client

3. Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP)

ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) is an internet layer protocol used by network
devices to diagnose network communication issues. Mainly ICMP is used to determine
whether data is reaching desired correct destination in a timely manner or not. Generally,
ICMP protocol is used on network devices, such as routers, gateway etc. .

What Is ICMP Used For?

IP (Internet Protocol) doesn't have any inbuilt mechanism for detecting and sending error and
control messages. So, IP depends on Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) to provide an
error control. It is used for error reporting and management related ququeries. ICMP is a
supporting protocol that is mostly used by networking devices such as routers for sending
the error messages and operations information.
When two devices are connected over the Internet, the ICMP generates errors to share with
the sending device so that any of the data didn't get to its intended destination.

Source quench message:

Source quench message is a request to host(destination) to decrease the traffic rate for
message sending . Or in simple words we can say that, when receiving host detects that
traffic rate (rate of sending packets) is too fast, then it sends the source quench message to
the source to slow down the message sending speed (rate) so that no packet can be lost.
• · ICMP will take source IP from the discarded packet and infoforms to source by
sending source quench message. Then source will reduce the speed of transmission
so that router will free for congestion.
• · When the congestion router is far away from the source the ICMP will send hop by
hop source quench message so that every router will reduce the speed of
transmission.

Parameter problem:
Whenever router receives data packets then calculated header checksum should always be
equal to received header checksum then only packet is accepted by the router otherwise
rejected.
• · If there is a mismatch packet will be dropped by the router. ICMP will take the source
IP from the discarded packet and informs to source by sending parameter problem
message.

Time exceeded message :

• · When some fragments are lost in a network then the holding fragment by the router
will be dropped then ICMP will take source IP from discarded packet and informs to
the source, of discarded datagram due to time to live field reaches to zero, by sending
time exceeded message.

Destination un -reachable :
• · Destination unreachable is generated by the host or its inbound gateway to inform
the client that the destination is unreachable for some reason.
• · There is no necessary condition that only router give the ICMP error message some
time destination host send ICMP error message when any type of failure (link failure,
hardware failure, port failure etc.) happen in the network.

Redirection message :
• · Redirect requests data packets be sent on an alternate route. The message informs to
a host to update its routing infoformation (to send packets on an alternate route).
• · If host tries to send data through a router R1 and R1 sends data on a router R2 and
there is a direct way from host to R2. Then R1 will send a redirect message to inform
the host that there is a best way to the destination directly through R2 available. The
host then sends data packets for the destination directly to R2.
The router R2 will send the original datagram to the intended destination.
But if datagram contains the routing information of the packet then this message will not be
sent even if another better route is available. As redirected messages should only be sent by
the gateways and not by the Internet hosts.
• · Whenever a packet is forwarded into a wrong direction later it is redirected in a
current direction and then ICMP will send re -directed message.

4. Network Address Translation (NAT)

• · To access the Internet, one public IP address is needed, but we can use a private IP
address in our private network. The idea of NAT is to allow multiple devices to access
the Internet through a single public address. To achieve this, the translation of private
IP address to a public IP address is required.
• · Network Address Translation (NAT)is a process in which one or more local IP address
is translated into one or more Global IP address and vice versa in order to provide
Internet access to the local hosts.
• · Also, it does the translation of port numbers i.e. masks the port number of the host
with another port number, in the packet that will be routed to the destination. It then
makes the corresponding entries of IP address and port number in the NAT table. NAT
generally operates on router or firewall.

Network Address Translation (NAT) working –

Mostly, Network Address Translation is configured with the border router i.e. the router which
has one interface in the local network and one interface in the global network. When a
packet travels outside the local (inside) network, then NAT transforms that local (private) IP
address into a global (public) IP address. When a packet enters into the local network, the
global (public) IP address is changed into a local (private) IP address.
If NAT addresses got finished, i.e., no more address is left in the configuring pool then the
packets will be dropped and an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) host unreachable
packet will be send to the destination.

Advantages of NAT ––
• · NAT conserves legally registered IP addresses.
• · It provides privacy as the device IP address, sending and receiving the traffic, will be
hidden.
• · Eliminates address renumbering when a network evolves.

Disadvantage of NAT ––
• · Translation results in switching path delays.
• · Certain applications will not function while NAT is enabled.
• · Complicates tunnelling protocols such as IPsec.
• · Also, the router being a network layer device, should not tamper with port
numbers(transport layer) but it has to do so because of NAT.