Fundamentals of LANs

Physical and data link layer standards work together to allow computers to send bits to each other over a particular type of physical networking medium. The Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) physical layer (Layer 1) defines how to physically send bits over a particular physical networking medium. The data link layer (Layer 2) defines some rules about the data that is physically transmitted, including addresses that identify the sending device and the intended recipient, and rules about when a device can send (and when it should be silent), to name a few.