ethertype

[carl_townshend]

Hi all, can anyone tell me why the ethertype field is needed in ethernet? is it so the next layer above knows what do do with the frame ?

[Kevin Dorrell]

Exactly. Some values are:

0x0800 - IP

0x0806 - ARP

0x0bad - Banyan Vines

0x8035 - RARP

0x809b - AppleTalk

0x8100 - 802.1Q trunk

0x8137 - Novell IPX

0x86dd - IPv6

Kevin Dorrell

Luxembourg

[carl_townshend]

Hi Kevin, thanks for that, however, I know what the values are, Im interested in why they are used in the layer 2 header , what are they used for ?

[Kevin Dorrell]

To identify the protocol so that the layer-2 on the receiving end can pass the frame up to the right layer-3 process.

[grichardson661]

Useful post!