6.2. Data Encapsulation

I started to discuss data encapsulation in Chapter 2, but I could only provide an overview at that point in the book because you needed to have a firm understanding of how ports work in a virtual circuit. With the last five chapters of foundational material under your belt, you're ready to get more into the details of encapsulations.

When a host transmits data across a network to another device, the data goes through encapsulation: It's wrapped with protocol information at each layer of the OSI model. Each layer communicates only with its peer layer on the receiving device.

To communicate and exchange information, each layer uses Protocol Data Units (PDUs). These hold the control information attached to the data at each ...

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