] Compare and contrast networking I/Ooperations and block/character I/Ooperations.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

: Networking device drivers, unlike block or character device drivers, are not represented
as files in the VFS. This is due to the fundamental difference between these two categories
of devices: network devices cannot expect a stream of data, nor can they be
guaranteed in general to read to and write from a source in any particular order.Another difference
is that processes can specify particular devices from which to read and write when
performing I/O operations; however, the kernel’s networking subsystem exclusively handles
device management during network I/O. As with all device operations, the kernel must use
the networking device driver to send and receive packets. In the former case, the kernel must
enqueue packets for delivery according the specified queuing discipline. In the latter case, the
kernel is interrupted by the device, and the appropriate action is taken by interrupt handlers.