At which OSI layer is a source MAC address added to a PDU during the encapsulation process?presentation layerapplication layertransport layerdata link layer

Break Down the Problem

1. Identify the function of each OSI layer involved in data encapsulation.
2. Locate the specific layer where the MAC address is associated with the Protocol Data Unit (PDU).

Relevant Concepts

1. OSI Model: The Open Systems Interconnection model consists of 7 layers: Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, and Application.
2. Data Link Layer: This layer is responsible for node-to-node data transfer and is where MAC addresses are added.

Analysis and Detail

1. The source MAC address is a unique identifier assigned to the network interface of a device.
2. During the encapsulation process, when data is being prepared to be sent over a network, the Data Link Layer adds the source MAC address to the frame that encapsulates the data.

Verify and Summarize

The MAC address is not added at the Presentation, Application, or Transport layers; those layers handle different aspects of data communication (formatting, session management, and end-to-end communication, respectively).

Final Answer

The source MAC address is added to a PDU during the encapsulation process at the Data Link Layer.