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Before a network packet leaves your device, an app hands data to the operating system through a socket. A transport protocol prepares it, IP routing selects a local interface and next hop, and the device resolves a local link-layer recipient if the connection requires it. The network driver and interface then send the data using that link’s framing and signaling. For a remote destination, the first frame goes to your router, even though the IP packet is still addressed to the remote host.
How data moves from an app to the network
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An app writes to a socket
Networked applications typically send data through a socket provided by the operating system. The socket connects the application to a transport protocol such as TCP or UDP. Linux distinguishes stream, datagram, and raw IP sockets; port numbers belong to transport protocols, not to IP itself. See the Linux ip(7) manual.
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The transport protocol prepares the data
TCP provides a reliable, ordered byte stream over IP. It establishes a connection before sending application data, uses checksums, and retransmits data when needed. Because TCP is a stream rather than a record-based protocol, one application write does not necessarily become one packet. UDP instead provides datagrams; the exact behavior depends on the protocol and application. The Linux tcp(7) manual describes TCP socket behavior.
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IP selects a route and a next hop
The operating system consults its routing information to decide which interface to use and whether the destination is directly reachable. If the destination is on another network, the selected next hop is usually a local router. The IP packet’s destination remains the remote host; the router is the immediate recipient only at the link layer. RFC 1180’s TCP/IP tutorial explains this distinction.
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The device resolves the next hop on the local link
On IPv4 Ethernet-like networks, Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) maps the next-hop IPv4 address to a hardware address. The device may already have the mapping cached. If it does not, it can broadcast an ARP request and hold the IP packet until it receives a reply. ARP resolves recipients on the local link; it does not look up a distant server’s hardware address. See RFC 1180’s discussion of ARP.
IPv6 uses Neighbor Discovery, based on ICMPv6, for address resolution and router discovery. It is not correct to call IPv6 address resolution ARP. The details are in RFC 4861.
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The interface transmits over its link
The driver and network interface prepare and transmit the data according to the link in use. Ethernet, Wi-Fi, point-to-point connections, and cellular access do not all use the same link-layer behavior. Some interfaces also offload tasks such as segmentation to hardware. As a result, a packet capture made on the sending device may show different-sized units from those that appear on the wire. Linux kernel documentation describes segmentation offloads; Apple’s archived Networking Overview outlines differences among link types.
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Why the IP destination and frame recipient can differ
IP addresses identify the packet’s source and destination across routed networks. A link-layer address identifies a recipient on one local link. For direct delivery on a local Ethernet network, the destination IP and destination Ethernet address identify the same host. For delivery to a remote server, the IP destination is that server while the first Ethernet frame is addressed to the local router. The router removes the incoming link-layer framing and forwards the IP packet in a new frame on the next link, choosing that link’s recipient according to its own routing decision.
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This is why a device does not use ARP to discover the MAC address of a server on the other side of the Internet. It needs the local router’s address for the first link; routers handle delivery link by link after that.
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What changes between networks and protocols
- TCP versus UDP: TCP supplies a reliable, ordered byte stream, while UDP sends datagrams. Neither means one application write always equals one packet.
- IPv4 versus IPv6: IPv4 Ethernet-like links commonly use ARP for local address resolution; IPv6 uses Neighbor Discovery.
- Local versus routed delivery: For a directly reachable host, the local frame goes to that host. For a remote host, it goes first to the selected router.
- Ethernet, Wi-Fi, point-to-point, or cellular: The final link’s framing and transmission method vary, so the last steps are not identical on every device or network.
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