5.1. Network Interface Cards

To the extent networking is concerned, the network interface card (NIC) is a standout amongst the most vital PC gadgets. Every PC on the network (counting servers and clients) requires one, and it is the NIC that gives the association between the PC and the network's physical medium, (for example, copper or fibre optic link).

A hefty portion of the new motherboards accessible for computers and servers have the network interface incorporated with the motherboard. More established PCs or new PCs that don't give built-in network interfaces will need that a NIC be added to it (unless you purchase your network clients and servers with a NIC as their standard equipment arrangement, which can be incorporated on the motherboard or a different card in a expansion slot). Figure 5.1 demonstrates a PCI NIC from 3Com, which gives the RJ-45 female port for the CAT 5 twisted pair link that associates the PC to a hub or switch.

Figure 5.1.      Network interface cards give the association between the computer & the network wiring.

Not just does the NIC give the PC an association with the network, yet it additionally handles an imperative data- exchange capacity. Data goes in parallel on the computer’s bus framework; the network medium requests a serial transmission. The transceiver (a transmitter and recipient) on the NIC can move data from parallel to serial, and the other way around. This is much the same as vehicles proceeding onward a multi-path superhighway that should all converge into one path of traffic.

Network interface cards likewise supply the fundamental tending to framework used to get data starting with one PC then onto the next on the network. This equipment or MAC address is smouldered into a ROM chip on the NIC. It is alluded to as the MAC address in light of the fact that the Media Access Control (MAC) layer is really a sub-layer of the OSI model's Data Link layer.