MAC Addresses
Media Access Control address
MAC is the physical address for our network interfaces
addresses the physical connection (network card, Bluetooth, or WLAN adapter) of a host.
each network card has its individual MAC address, which is configured once on the manufacturer's hardware side but can always be changed
works on the data link layer of the OSI model
The ARP protocol is used to associate a logical address with a physical or MAC address
EX: DE:AD:BE:EF:13:37
Consists of a total of 6 bytes:
The first half (3 bytes / 24 bit) is the so-called Organization Unique Identifier (OUI) defined by IEEE.
The last half is called the Individual Address Part or Network Interface Controller (NIC), which the manufacturers assign to ensure that the complete address is unique.
Types of MAC address
Unicast MAC address: represents the specific NIC on the network
Multicast MAC address: enables the source device to transmit a data frame to multiple devices or NICs
Broadcast MAC address: represents all devices within a Network
MAC address vs IP address
stands for Media Access Control
stands for Internet Protocol
unique address provided by the manufacturer
logical address provided by the ISP or Internet Service Provider
the physical address of the device's NIC that is used to identify a device within a network
the logical address that identifies a network or device on the internet
operates on the data link layer
operates on a network Layer
6 -bytes hexadecimal address
4 bytes for IPv4 and 8 bytes for IPv6 addresses
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