Network Equipment
Some network equipment uses the term loopback for a virtual interface used for management purposes. Unlike a proper loopback interface, this loopback device is not used to talk with itself.
Such an interface is assigned an address that can be accessed from management equipment over a network but is not assigned to any of the real interfaces on the device. This loopback address is also used for management datagrams, such as alarms, originating from the equipment. The property that makes this virtual interface special is that applications that use it will send or receive traffic using the address assigned to the virtual interface as opposed to the address on the physical interface through which the traffic passes.
Read more about this topic: Loopback
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