Because of the abstraction provided by encapsulation, IP can be used over a heterogeneous network (i.e., a network connecting two computers can be any mix of Ethernet, ATM, FDDI, Wi-Fi, token ring, etc.) and it makes no difference to the upper layer protocols. Each data link layer can (and does) have its own method of addressing (or possibly the complete lack of it), with a corresponding need to resolve IP addresses to data link addresses. This address resolution is handled by the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment