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CCNA RnS Article #8 – Ethernet LAN communication

CCNA RnS Article #8 – Ethernet LAN Communication

Have you ever thought about how different physical layer media and connectors in a LAN setup can communicate with each other? In this article we are going to cover the same how is it possible.

As per our last article, there are so many physical layer standards in Ethernet. A LAN setup with combinations of these different standards is able to communicate because of a common Ethernet header and trailer. All hosts whether connected through UTP cable or fiber cable follow the same Ethernet Frame format.

As you must know physical layer defines the standards focusing on sending bits over a cable, and Ethernet Data-Link protocols focus on sending Ethernet Frames from source to destination system. From the layer 2 perspectives, systems build and forward Ethernet Frames. Frame refers to the header and trailer of a data-link protocol. Data is included between a header and a tail. The various devices in Ethernet LAN simply forward the frame links that connect them together to the destination system.

Ethernet LAN Communication
Fig 1- Ethernet LAN communication

As shown in the above figure, Host A sends Ethernet Frame to Host B. The Frame first traverses over the UTP cable that can support 10Mbps to 1Gig Speed up to 100 meters. The same frame traverses to a Fiber Connection between Switch 1 and Switch 2. And finally, this Ethernet Frame travels over the UTP link to Host B.

So here we briefly touched Ethernet LAN which is a combination of computers, LAN Switches, and various LAN cablings. Each link can have different cables or connectors and work at different speeds. However, all work together to deliver Ethernet frames from one device to another.

We’ll cover more on Ethernet LAN concepts in the coming articles.

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