Whats the difference between an adapter and a network interface?

interface terminology adapter lan iphelper
unixman83 picture unixman83 · Dec 28, 2010 · Viewed 10.6k times · Source

Having a hard time understanding the MSDN documentation on the IP Helper Functions. Whats the difference between an adapter and a network interface?

Answer

John Saunders picture John Saunders · Dec 28, 2010

An "Adapter" is a piece of hardware.

A "network interface" is a software construct.

Usually, there is one network interface per adapter.

But there may be network interfaces which are not from an adapter.

And there may be multiple interfaces per adapter.

Related questions

Abstract classes vs. interfaces vs. mixins

Could someone please explain to me the differences between abstract classes, interfaces, and mixins? I've used each before in my code but I don't know the technical differences.

Read More
Doesn't putting a "virtual destructor inside an interface" make it, by definition, not an interface anymore?

So here is the box I am in. I want to understand why it is important to have a "virtual destructor inside your interface class". You will see why that stuff is in quotes if you can hang to the …

Read More
What is the difference between an interface and abstract class?

What exactly is the difference between an interface and abstract class?

Read More