Each node in a route performs what action with the TTL counter?

The correct action performed by each node in a route with respect to the Time To Live (TTL) counter is to decrement it. The TTL is a field in the IP packet header that is used to prevent packets from circulating indefinitely on the network. Each time a packet travels through a router or node, the TTL is reduced by one.

This decrementing process helps in managing network traffic and ensuring that packets that cannot reach their destination in a specified amount of time are discarded rather than endlessly looping through the network. If the TTL reaches zero before reaching the destination, the packet is discarded, and an ICMP message is typically sent back to the sender, indicating that the TTL has expired.

This mechanism is critical for maintaining the overall health and efficiency of a network, preventing traffic congestion caused by misconfigured devices or routing loops.