[Contents] [Back] [<< Prev] [Next >>]

Hardware Access at the Data Link Layer
As the preceding section mentions, the Data Link layer’s MAC sublayer provides an interface to the network adapter card. The details necessary to facilitate access to the network through the adapter card are thus assigned to the Data Link layer. Some of these details include the access control method (for example, contention or token passing—see Chapter 4) and the network topology.

The Data Link layer also controls the transmission method (for example, synchronous or asynchronous) used to access the transmission medium. See Chapter 6, “Connectivity Devices,” for more on synchronous and asynchronous communications.