When data packets are transmitted across a network via TCP/IP, they may be further fragmented en route, and need to be reassembled. The IP Fragments chart displays the rates at which the fragmented packets are received and rebuilt.

The graphs on the chart display one of the following features of IP fragmentation:

Received

The rate at which IP fragments are received successfully.

Created

The rate at which IP datagram fragments are generated as a result of fragmentation.

Re-assembled

The rate at which IP fragments are rebuilt into their original data packets. Packets are fragmented when they travel through a router that needs to send packets that are smaller than the packets received.

Datagrams

The rate at which IP fragments are created on the current system. This applies only to routed packets.

Failures

The rate at which the current system receives data packets that are too large to be transmitted, and that cannot be fragmented. The cause may be the presence of a “do not fragment” flag in the IP packet header.

Reassembly Failures

The rate at which errors are reported when IP fragments are reassembled into data packets. This may be due to an error in one or more fragments.