47.4.2 IP Network Objects

These objects provide raw access to the IP protocol, and allow the complete specification of IP packets (including header). The implementation makes use of a raw socket. In most UNIX systems, access to such sockets requires super-user privileges. In addition, the interface to raw sockets is somewhat less standard than other types of sockets. The class Network/IP provides raw IP functionality plus a base class from which other network objects implementing higher-layer protocols are derived.