Networking layer

Ethereum nodes are organized in a P2P network and need to communicate with one another. The networking layer is the set of rules and standard protocols that allows nodes to discover peers, and exchange data.

Nodes require two types of communication, one-to-many (known as gossiping) and one-to-one. The network layer allows both types.

Communication networks

In PoW or PoA Ethereum networks, only one P2P network was used to both discover peers and exchange data. But, in a PoS network, a node has two clients (execution and consensus) and each client has a distinct and separate P2P network. So, execution clients exchange messages over their execution network and consensus clients do the same over their consensus network.

The last communication channel needed by a PoS Ethereum node is between its execution and consensus clients (intra-node connection).