What is MAC Address
What is MAC Address
A media access control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier assigned to a network interface controller (NIC) for use as a network address in communications within a network segment. This use is common in most IEEE 802 networking technologies, including Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.
MAC (Media Access Control) address is the physical address that uniquely identifies a hardware interface. MAC address is 48 bit hexadecimal address. The format of a MAC address is MM:MM:MM:SS:SS:SS. Here first three bytes represent manufacturer and rest three bytes represent the serial number of NIC (Network Interface card). MAC address is burned into ROM of Network Interface Card (NIC). Each computer device have unique MAC Address
Why we Need MAC Address
MAC addresses are the low level basics that make your Ethernet based network work. Network cards each have a unique MAC address. Packets that are sent on the Ethernet are always coming from a MAC address and sent to a MAC address. If a network adapter is receiving a packet, it is comparing the packet’s destination MAC address to the adapter’s own MAC address. If the addresses match, the packet is processed, otherwise it is discarded.
Important Points About MAC Address
- MAC address stand for Media Access Control Address
- MAC address identifies the physical address of a computer
- It work on Hardware, physical and Ethernet Address
- MAC address is assigned by the manufacturer to the NIC card
- ARP Protocol can be retrieve the MAC address of device
- MAC address is 48 bits (6 bytes) hexadecimal address