Ethernet at Layer 1 or Layer 2?

About this interactive

From the lesson: - **Physical layer (Layer 1):** how the bits are signaled on the medium. The IEEE 802.3 variants (802.3i, u, ab, ae, bq and more) each set a speed, from 10 Mb/s up to 40 Gb/s and beyond, over copper or fiber. - **Data link layer (Layer 2):** split into two sublayers. The LLC sublayer is defined by IEEE 802.2; the MAC sublayer, like the physical layer, by 802.3. Here Ethernet builds frames and addresses them by MAC address. - **MAC address:** the address of a network interface, written in hexadecimal and usually burned into the NIC. A frame carries a source MAC (where it comes from) and a destination MAC (where it is going).

What you'll learn

Decide whether a part of Ethernet works at the physical layer (signaling, speeds, copper or fiber media, defined by IEEE 802.3) or the data link layer (frames, MAC addressing, the MAC sublayer of 802.3 and the LLC sublayer of 802.2)
Recognize the MAC address as the data link address of a network interface, used as a frame's source and destination

Aligned to

CompTIA Network+

1.1 Explain concepts related to the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model.

1.5 Compare and contrast transmission media and transceivers.

Cisco CCST Networking

1.1 Identify the fundamental conceptual building blocks of networks

Key terms

Ethernet: A widely used wired networking technology that transmits data over copper cable using electrical signals.
Physical Layer: Layer 1 of the OSI model, responsible for the transmission of raw bits over a physical medium.
Data Link Layer: Layer 2 of the OSI model responsible for node-to-node data transfer and error detection on a single network segment.
IEEE 802.3: The IEEE standard that defines the MAC sublayer and physical layer specifications for Ethernet networks, covering signaling, speeds, and media types.
Logical Link Control: The upper sublayer of the OSI Data Link layer (Layer 2) that provides flow control, error notification, and an interface to the Network layer. LLC is defined in IEEE 802.2 and identifies the network layer protocol encapsulated within a frame.
Media Access Control: A sublayer of the Data Link layer that controls how devices on a network gain access to a medium and transmit data.
MAC Address: A 48-bit hardware address assigned to a network interface and written as six hexadecimal octets, such as 00:1A:2B:3C:4D:5E. It identifies a device uniquely on a local network segment, and switches forward frames by looking it up in their MAC address table.
Network Interface Card: A hardware component that connects a computer to a network.

Topics

Ethernet Osi Model Physical Layer Data Link Layer Ieee 802 3 Interactive Streak Sort

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