# Forwarding Packets Across a Network

DevFeed: [Forwarding Packets Across a Network](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/forwarding-packets-across-a-network-11182.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://blog.ipspace.net/2025/05/forwarding-packets-across-network/>)

Published: 2025-05-08T06:20:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [ipSpace.net blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/ipspace-net-blog.md>)

Topics: [Networks](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/networks.md>), [networking](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/networking.md>), [Network](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/network.md>), [Routing (disambiguation)](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/routing.md>)

Tags: [bridging](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/bridging.md>), [networking-fundamentals](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/networking-fundamentals.md>), [networks](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/networks.md>), [routing](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/routing.md>), [switching](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/switching.md>)

## AI overview

This article explains how packets move across networks after a single cable is divided by an intermediate network device. It introduces source routing and path-based forwarding, while contrasting bridging, routing, and switching terminology.

## Source excerpt

After inspecting the confusing bridging/routing/switching terminology and a brief detour into the control/data plane details, let's talk about how packets actually move across a network. As always, things were simpler when networks were implemented with a single cable. In that setup, all nodes were directly reachable, and the only challenge was figuring out the destination node's address; it didn't matter whether it was a MAC address, an IP address, or a Fiber Channel address. On a single cable, you could just broadcast, like, "Who has this service?" and someone would reply, "I'm the printer you're looking for." That's how many early non-IP protocols operated. Read more ...