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Data Link Control

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 217.16.96.195 (talk) at 13:53, 7 November 2013 (The article erroneously stated that the DLC protocol is available for download for Windows XP. This is no longer the case.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

In the OSI networking model, Data Link Control (DLC) is the service provided by the data link layer. Network interface cards have a DLC address that identifies each card; for instance, Ethernet and other types of cards have a 48-bit MAC address built into the cards' firmware when they are manufactured.

There is also a network protocol with the name Data Link Control. It is comparable to better-known protocols such as TCP/IP or AppleTalk. DLC is a transport protocol used by IBM SNA mainframe computers and peripherals and compatible equipment. In computer networking, it is typically used for communications between network-attached printers, computers and servers, for example by HP in their JetDirect print servers. While it was widely used up until the time of Windows 2000, the DLC protocol is no longer included in Windows XP.