What is a network adapter controller?

The network adapter adapter controller is low -level software that controls a network adapter. Each network driver operates one or more network adapters in the computer system. It is designed specifically for a specific type of adapter and a specific operating system (OS). The network adapter controller operates in the network access control layer; Directly controls the circuits of the network adapter associated with it. Combined with other network layers, the computer system uses a network adapter controller to communicate with other network computers and the Internet.

Before the end of the 90th years of network adapter drivers, they usually performed a large part of the work of the network communication. Some network adapters required the drivers to copy all packet data between their memory buffer and OS buffer memories; The identification headers were often filled with drivers during this process. Adapter drivers often had to manage special cases such as income of multi -way broadcasting and "promiscuous moperation from" B BBy configuration, the driver often had to identify the type of computer bus and program the adapter accordingly. In order to keep up with the speed of the network connection, most of the adapter drivers were written in a high -effective assembly language.

As the maximum speed of the network connection increased, network drivers and other OS software layers have often become narrow. To face this, OS designers moved most of the functions of the network adapter control deeper into the OS; Tight integration and optimization with other network layers has often improved performance. Newer network adapters can construct and copy all packet data using hardware as soon as they are listed where the OS data buffer is located. At the same time, better generating the compiler code made it possible to write adapter drivers in the compilation language in general C programming language. As a result of these optimizations of the non -cold adapters withE became much easier to write and maintain. Modern drivers must still implement a certain configuration, power management and multiprocessing support; However, OS hardware and network adapter are now performing most of the time -sensitive work.

Several network adapter drivers can be lowered on the system simultaneously. Most modern computers include the interface of the cable network adapter built into the motherboard; Its network adapter controller is usually part of the OS. Laptops and other portable computers often include an adapter and a wireless network driver. Many systems provide resources to connect other network cards-adapters Gigabit Ethernet or Fibre Channel with high speed are common options. Their drivers are often part of network adapters when purchased. Most manufacturers also publish the latest versions of their drivers on the Internet; Users should check and install these updated drivers regularly to get the latest error and performance enhancement.