
The result is that in a MACaddress, the first three bytes define the manufacturer, and the last three areassigned by the manufacturer.įor example, consider the MAC address of the computer on which this book isbeing written: 00:D0:59:09:07:51. But rather than be burdened with assigningindividual addresses, the IEEE instead decided to assign each manufacturer an IDand then let the manufacturer further allocate IDs. To combat the possibility of duplicate MAC addresses being assigned, theInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) took over theassignment of MAC addresses. The MAC address forms the basis of networkcommunication, regardless of the protocol used to achieve network connection.Because the MAC address is so fundamental to network communication, mechanismsare in place to ensure that there is no possibility of duplicate addresses beingused. A network address is the logical protocol address assigned to thenetwork to which the interface is connected.Ī MAC address is a 6-byte hexadecimal address that allows a NIC to beuniquely identified on the network.

Sometimes it is also referred to as a network address, which isincorrect.

A MAC Address Is the Physical Address A MAC address issometimes referred to as a physical address because it is physically embedded inthe interface.
