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what is the difference between a link MTU max transmission unit and a link bandwidth? MTU refers to the max size of a packet that a link can send. link bandwidth refers to the max number of bits that a link can send. arent they the same thing

Lisha Margaret
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1 Answers1

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MTU = maximum size of 1 packet. For example, ethernet is 1500 bytes.

Bandwidth = bits you can send trough a link, for example, 1 gigabit per second.

So to send 1 megabyte of data over a line, you first need to cut it into small packets that fit the protocol. So you will create about 700 packets of 1500 bytes to fit one megabyte into. Those will go over your line at the bandwidth specified.

But there is overhead: in TCP/IP every packet needs its IP and TCP headers. So the smaller the MTU, the more packets you will need, so the header overhead will become more significant, meaning you can actually use less of the total bandwidth

Peter
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