|  | 6.4 | Framing
| 6.4.1 | Why framing is necessary

Encoded bit streams on physical media represent a tremendous technological accomplishment, but they, alone, are not enough to make communication happen. Framing helps obtain essential information that could not, otherwise, be obtained with coded bit streams alone. Examples of such information are:

- which computers are communicating with one another
- when communication between individual computers begins and when it terminates
- a record of errors that occurred during the communication
- whose turn it is to "talk" in a computer "conversation"

Once you have a way to name computers, you can move on to framing, which is the next step. Framing is the Layer 2 encapsulation process; a frame is the Layer 2 protocol data unit.

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