RFC 1062 (rfc1062) - Page 2 of 65

Internet numbers

Alternative Format: Original Text Document


RFC 1062                    Internet Numbers                 August 1988


   system.  The bracketed entry, e.g., [nn,iii], at the right hand
   margin of the page indicates a reference for the listed network or
   autonomous system, where the number ("nn") cites the document and the
   letters ("iii") cite the NIC Handle of the responsible person.  The
   NIC Handle is a unique identifier that is used in the NIC
   WHOIS/NICNAME service.  People occasionally change electronic
   mailboxes.  To find out the current network mailbox or phone number
   for an individual, or to get information about a registered network,
   use the NIC WHOIS/NICNAME service or contact HOSTMASTER@SRI-NIC.ARPA.

   The convention used for the documentation of Internet Protocols is to
   express numbers in decimal and to picture data in "big-endian" order
   [8].  That is, fields are described left to right, with the most
   significant octet on the left and the least significant octet on the
   right.

   The order of transmission of the header and data described in this
   document is resolved to the octet level.  Whenever a diagram shows a
   group of octets, the order of transmission of those octets is the
   normal order in which they are read in English.  For example, in the
   following diagram the octets are transmitted in the order they are
   numbered.

       0                   1                   2                   3
       0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |       1       |       2       |       3       |       4       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |       5       |       6       |       7       |       8       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
      |       9       |      10       |      11       |      12       |
      +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

                        Transmission Order of Bytes

   Whenever an octet represents a numeric quantity the left most bit in
   the diagram is the high order or most significant bit.  That is, the
   bit labeled 0 is the most significant bit.  For example, the
   following diagram represents the value 170 (decimal).

                             0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
                            +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                            |1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0|
                            +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
                           Significance of Bits

   Similarly, whenever a multi-octet field represents a numeric quantity
   the left most bit of the whole field is the most significant bit.



Romano, Stahl & Recker

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