ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol)

[Sri_A]

Hello all,

I was kind of going into the packet architectures and was stuck in ICMP. When looking at the packet data, we can see only a to w from windows and in Linux machine can find from a to z. What is really happening there and concept behind it. Need to know.

Thanks and Regards,

Sri.

[brselzer]

Hello,

This data inside an ICMP packet is just padding to make the ping bigger. It isn't used for anything. If you were to ping with a larger size, you would probably see the alphabet wrap a couple times.

Hope that helps!

[Sri_A]

Yeah if it’s wrapping itself, y doesn’t xyz come into the bits in windows

[brselzer]

Hello Sri,

I am not sure. Some internal decision at Microsoft. It could mean nothing and was just easier to code or some developer just didn't like the last three letters of the alphabet. 

You could try asking Microsoft support to see if they have any explanation but I would guess it is just that way because it is. No great hidden meaning or anything. 

Hope that helps!