Meaning – The destination address is the network address to which the data packet has been sent. This address is used by the network hosts, to determine whether the packet or frame is intended for them or for other hosts.
The routers also use this destination address, to determine how the packet of data is to sent through the network.
The destination address can be considered to be one of the following –
- The physical address, such as the MAC address of an Ethernet frame
- The logical address, such as the IP address of an IP packet
If the packet of data is to be sent to a specific host, then a ‘specific destination address’ is provided. If the data packet is to be sent across to a general set of hosts, then a ‘general destination address’ is used.
Example of usage – “As the data packed needed to be sent to all the hosts on the network, he needed to use a general destination address.”
