Hi,

We have been trying to design software with multiple applications running on the same machine. We have tried out various options for interprocess communication between these applications. We are also considering using the lo adapter loop back so as to make applications talk to each other.

However, I would like to know if the local ethernet adapter uses a physical network device to pass the TCP or UDP packets to the local application or does it use an internal memory buffer to transfer the packets.

I would appreciate if someone can explain this in detail. Thanks a lot for your help!

The lo device is a virtual ethernet device. It does not use any hardware at all, the kernel effectively uses a FIFO to act as the device (packet in, packet out).