Summary

The important points covered in this chapter included how Ethernet frames are switched to the appropriate switch ports on a LAN based on destination MAC addresses that packets are routed across and to remote networks based on destination IP addresses, and how the frames carrying packets destined for remote networks based on the destination IP address are sent to the default gateway's port MAC address.

We also covered how and why slower and/or longer distance WAN links can add significant amounts of delay to packet transmissions, which slows application data exchanges and increases user response times. We finished the chapter by discussing how Wireshark can capture and analyze packets on 802.11 wireless networks using specialized adapters.

In the next chapter, we'll cover in detail how to capture and filter packets using Wireshark.