Destination Address is the address to which a frame or packet of data is sent over a network.

What is Destination Address?

The address to which a frame or packet of data is sent over a network. The destination address is used by hosts on the network to determine whether the packet or frame is intended for them or for other hosts. The destination address is also used by routers to determine how to forward the packet or frame through an internetwork.

The destination address can be one of the following:

• The physical address, such as the MAC address of an Ethernet frame
• The logical address, such as the IP address of an IP packet

Destination addresses can be either specific or general. Specific addresses point to a specific host on the network. A general address points the packet or frame to all hosts on the network or multicasts it to a specific multicast group of hosts on the network.

Source address

The other kind of address in a packet or frame is the source address. This is the address of the host from which the packet originates (unless the source address is being spoofed).

Network sniffer

You can see the destination address of a packet or frame by using a network sniffer device such as Network Monitor, a tool included with Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS). Network Monitor displays destination addresses in both ASCII and hexadecimal form

See also: IP Address