December 2011
Intermediate to advanced
485 pages
15h 47m
English
The kernel supports extending the network stack at multiple levels through the Network Kernel Extensions (NKE) mechanism. An NKE is no different from a regular KEXT; it is merely a term used to describe a KEXT that interfaces with or extends the network stack.
As such, NKEs are also dynamically loadable and unloadable at runtime. NKEs are not part of the I/O Kit, but located in the BSD layer. The NKE mechanism is unique to Mac OS X and not found in BSD UNIX flavors, such as FreeBSD.
An NKE can be used for many purposes. Some examples of use include, but are not limited to, the following:
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