In TCP/IP a loopback device is a virtual network interface implemented in software only and not connected to any hardware, but which is fully integrated into the computer system's internal network infrastructure. Any traffic that a computer program sends to the loopback interface is immediately received on the same interface.
In TCP/IP a loopback device is a virtual network interface implemented in software only and not connected to any hardware, but which is fully integrated into the computer system's internal network infrastructure. Any traffic that a computer program sends to the loopback interface is immediately received on the same interface.
A loopback interface has several uses. It may be used by network client software on a computer to communicate with server software on the same computer, namely on a computer running a web server, pointing a web browser to the URLs http://127.0.0.1/
or http://localhost/
will access that computer's own web site. This works without any actual network connection–so it is useful for testing services without exposing them to security risks from remote network access. Likewise, pinging the loopback interface is a basic test of the functionality of the IP stack in the operating system.
Source: wikipedia