BRIDGING DATA NETWORK COMMUNICATIONS

摘要

When a packet is send, from a node connected to the network requiring acknowledgements, to a node behind the bridge, the original destination address (address of node behind the bridge) is changed. On the driver level, the destination address is replaced with the MAC address of the bridge, and the original destination address is moved to an additional field of the packet. Thus the communication between the sending node and the bridge reminds to be point-to-point (from node to bridge). Accordingly, when the bridge receives the packet it is automatically acknowledged from the firmware, and the sending node does not try to resend it. The packet is forwarded to the driver of the bridge. The driver modifies again the received packet by replacing the destination address with the original one found in the "ORIGINAL TO", additional field and at the same time completely removing that field. Thus the package looks like substantially the same as the one originally generated by the application on the sending node.