of messages is generated and forwarded through the entire network. When a node in the network receives a request packet, it can send an RREP packet through a temporary path to the requesting node, which can then exploit the newly received information. Generally, each node compares different paths based on their length and chooses the most convenient one. If a node is no longer reachable, a RERR message is generated to alert the rest of the network.

Each RREQ has a "time to live" that limits the times it can be retransmitted. In addition,