what is a virtual adapter

Question

I hear the term virtual adapter from time to time. But not exactly sure what it is. I can't exactly find a good definition online. Is there an exact definition for a virtual adapter. If so, what is it. Or what does it usually mean ?

Answer 1

In most scenarios, it involves a device driver at the operating system kernel level that pretends to implement a hardware device. A very common implementation is a driver that supports VPN. It looks like a regular network adapter to user code. But it actually transparently transmits packets across the Internet to a local area network far removed. Ask more questions about it at superuser.com