Assume that hosts A and B have a TCP connection established. Assume that the two hosts are separated by one router (i.e. they are one hop apart).Why does host A not directly use the MAC (LAN) address of host B when constructing its packets to send to host B?
2007-08-13 04:19:14 · 3 answers · asked by fergie223 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Computer Networking
A Mac address does not contain any routing information, so a router cannot determine which segment to send the message to. An ip address does contain routing information. It has a network part and a local address part, so a router can read the network part of the address and route the message to the appropriate segment.
2007-08-13 04:30:37 · answer #1 · answered by ICH 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because routers separate broadcast domains. Routers strip off the layer 2 information (i.e. MAC header) to get at the layer 3 information (IP header) in order to direct the IP datagram to the proper subnet.
Routers are primarily used to connect different types of layer 2 networks together. I.e. connect an Ethernet LAN to DSL WAN.
2007-08-13 05:27:00 · answer #2 · answered by Fester Frump 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because the PROTOCOL is Tcp/Ip so therefore you send
header info as an IP Address.
This would then be routed according to your routers / gateways rules to Lan B.
IPX/SPX Protocol used to use Mac Addresses I think.
2007-08-13 04:30:27 · answer #3 · answered by Banderes 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋