Packets and Frames — The Containers of Networking

Packets and Frames — The Containers of Networking

For data to be transmitted from one network node to another it first has to be prepared. This preparation includes breaking the data/file into smaller segments. These segments are placed into containers, first packets and then frames.

Fig 1:Packets and Frames — The containers of networking

Explanation

Data to be transmitted remotely it first has to be divided into smaller segments these segments are placed into two containers the packet container and the frame container as data moves from application layer to the physical layer it goes through a few transformations the first transformation takes place at the transport layer where the data is divided into smaller segments these segments are handed over to the network layer where they are placed into the packet containers these containers also contain the destination and source IP addresses that will be used for routing the packets from one subnet to another after the segments are placed into the packet containers. 

Packets are handed over to the data link layer where they are den placed into the frame containers the frame containers have the destination and source MAC addresses that will be used for transmitting the frames on the local network so how does this work when a frame reaches a router the packet within the frame will be removed and its destination IP address will be compared against the routers routing table the packet will then be placed into a new frame and sent on its way after reaching the gateway router for its destination subnet the packet will once again be removed from its frame and placed into new frame containing the MAC address for the intended device so in conclusion packets. And frames are used for transmitting segments of data from one location to another packets operate at the network layer and frames at a data link layer of the OSI model.