Multiple choice

One of the header fields in an IP datagram is the Time to Live (TTL) field. Which of the following statements best explains the need for this field?

  1. It can be used to prioritize packets.

  2. It can be used to reduce delays.

  3. It can be used to optimize throughput.

  4. It can be used to prevent packet looping.
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D Correct answer
Explanation

The TTL (Time to Live) field in an IP datagram serves as a counter that gets decremented by 1 each time the packet passes through a router. When TTL reaches 0, the packet is discarded. This mechanism prevents packets from circulating indefinitely in routing loops - a packet cannot bounce forever because it will eventually expire. TTL has nothing to do with prioritization, delay reduction, or throughput optimization; its sole purpose is loop prevention.

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