disclaimer: app dev asking networking question! :)
my assumptions
- network card is the last piece of hardware on the host to touch outgoing packets before they pass onto the network
- Ethernet can be copper or fiber
question
- how does network card handle passing packets to physically different Ethernet i.e. are network cards coupled to only work for either copper cabling or fiber cabling?
guess at answer
- some network cards work w/ 100BASE-TX (copper)
- some network cards work w/ 100BASE-SX/LX (fiber)
- some network cards work with only copper or only fiber
inspiration for post: was watching PluralSight course (Network Interface Layer and Ethernet Operation for Cisco CCNA 200-125) and the author said:
"When we're talking about the network interface cards and fiber optics, the network interface card here is a laser, these laser types are going to vary depending upon the type of Ethernet we're using."