Characteristics of MAC
- The MAC address that is considered to be the distinguishing number of the hardware is globally unique. This lets us identify each device within a connected network.
- The total length MAC address in byte is 6 (or 48 bits). According to the IEEE 802 standards, this address is written in three commonly used formats:
- Six two-digits hexadecimals separated by hyphens (-) like 45-67-89-AB-12-CD .
- Six two-digits hexadecimals separated by colons (:) like 45:67:89:AB:DE:23 .
- Three four-digits hexadecimals separated by dots (.) like ABCD.4567.1238 .
- The left 24 bits (3 bytes) of the address is termed as Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI) number. This OUI number is assigned by Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA). This globally unique OUI number will always remain the same for NICs manufactured by the same company. The right 24 bits (3 bytes) of the address is termed as Network Interface Controller Specific (NICS), which is responsible for communication either by using cables or wirelessly over a computer network.
- Some devices that exist on this second layer are NIC cards, bridges and switches. This layer is also responsible for error free data transmission over the Physical layer under LAN transmissions. If we refer to our Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) network model, we will find that MAC addresses in the medium access control protocol sub-layer uses data link layer.
MAC Full Form
MAC stands for Media Access Control.
MAC address is defined as the identification number for the hardware. In general, the network interface cards (NIC) of each computer such as Wi-Fi Card, Bluetooth or Ethernet Card has unchangeable MAC address embedded by the vendor at the time of manufacturing. Dell, Nortel, Belkin, and Cisco are some of the well known NIC manufacturers. One can change the given default address of the device by replacing the NIC cards.
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