Encapsulation in Networking

Networking is an essential aspect of modern computing, enabling devices to communicate and share information with each other over a network. Encapsulation is a critical concept in networking that involves the wrapping of data and information within a protocol-specific header and footer. This process allows data to be transmitted across a network while maintaining its integrity and ensuring that it is properly delivered to the intended recipient. If you are just intrested in learning more about how data is transmitted over a network, this article is for you.

Data Packet

n the figure above, I am trying to show that when we send data from one network to another, some additional information is also passed along with the data.

1. Firstly, a UDP/TCP header is attached, which contains the source and destination port numbers.
2. The second layer contains the source and destination IP addresses.
3. The Ethernet header addresses the next hop on the local network. Basically, it will consume the IP packet if the destination address matches the current address of the network node; otherwise, it will replace the Ethernet header with one addressed to the next hop.