The three significant fields of the IPv4 packet header that were eliminated in the IP packet header to enhance performance are:
1. Total Length Field: In IPv4, the Total Length field specified the entire size of the packet including both the header and data. This field was removed in the IP packet header to streamline the packet processing and reduce overhead. Without the Total Length field, routers can make faster forwarding decisions based on the packet's size without needing to examine this field explicitly.
2. Header Checksum Field: The Header Checksum field in the IPv4 header was used to ensure data integrity during transmission by performing a checksum calculation on the header contents. Eliminating this field in the IP packet header simplified the packet processing at routers and hosts. Instead of recalculating and verifying the checksum at each hop, modern networking technologies like Ethernet, TCP, and UDP provide their own mechanisms for error detection and correction.
3. Fragmentation Fields (Identification, Flags, Fragment Offset): IPv4 packets had fields for fragmentation such as Identification, Flags, and Fragment Offset. These fields were removed from the IP packet header to offload the responsibility of fragmentation to higher layers in the networking stack. By removing these fields, the IP protocol became more efficient as it no longer needed to handle packet fragmentation and reassembly. This change allowed for faster packet forwarding and reduced the processing burden on networking devices.
By eliminating these fields from the IP packet header, network devices can operate more efficiently, leading to improved performance and faster data transmission across networks.
