#Wireless mac address is dynamic serial number

All computers have a MAC address but they are simplified as AAA, BBB, and CCC. ThereвЂ™s a switch in the middle and we have 3 computers around. The following part will illustrate how a switch learns MAC addresses. Since a switch has some intelligence, it can build the MAC address table automatically. If the outgoing port is found, the frame is forwarded rather than broadcast, so broadcasts are reduced. When forwarding a frame, the switch first looks up the MAC address table by the destination MAC address of the frame for the outgoing port. Switches usually have a bunch of MAC addresses reserved in its MAC address table. MAC addresses need to be unique or at least highly unlikely to be repeated for switches to identify different ports and devices, which is why manually setting a MAC address can have unexpected consequences in a switched network. To do this, it keeps track of the MAC addresses of the NICs plugged into each port.

A switch, on the other hand, intelligently directs traffic between systems by routing packets only to their proper destination. A hub simply rebroadcasts every signal on every port to every other port, which (while inefficient and slow) is easy to create. So do you see whatвЂ™s going on? The MAC address just gets the data packet to the next device but the IP address is responsible for getting it to the ultimate destination. If x.x.x.x is in the same network, then the destination IP can be reached directly, otherwise the packet needs to be sent to the configured router. While when your computer wants to send a packet to some IP address x.x.x.x, then the first check is if the destination address is in the same IP network as the computer itself. If you have a router, then your machineвЂ™s MAC address will go no further than that. That means that the MAC address of your computerвЂ™s network adapter travels the network only until the next device along the way. MAC addresses are typically used only to direct packets from one device to the next device as data travels on a network. MAC operates at Layer 2 of the OSI model while IP operates at Layer 3. Initially it might seem that IP addresses and MAC addresses are redundant because both are unique identifiers of networked devices, but they actually serve different purposes, and are visible in very different ways.

#Wireless mac address is dynamic serial number

The leftmost six hexadecimal digits of the address correspond to a manufacturer's unique identifier, while the rightmost six digits correspond to the serial number of the network interface card (NIC). Traditional MAC addresses are 12-digit hexadecimal numbers. If the addresses match, the packet is processed, otherwise it is discarded. If a network adapter is receiving a packet, it is comparing the packetвЂ™s destination MAC address to the adapterвЂ™s own MAC address. Packets that are sent on the Ethernet are always coming from a MAC address and sent to a MAC address. For a network switch, it is likely to have many MAC addresses, since one MAC address is assigned to every interface on the switch.ДЄ MAC address, also known as вЂњhardware addressвЂќ or вЂњphysical addressвЂќ, is a binary number used to uniquely identify computer network adapters. A MAC Address is given by the manufacturer and it is embedded in the chip that allows your device to connect to a network. To put the MAC (Media Access Control) address in laymanвЂ™s terms, you can think of the MAC address as your unique digital fingerprint, which is one of a kind in the world. So, why does your network devices need two addresses to connect to a network? IsnвЂ™t an IP address sufficient? What exactly is that MAC address for? Except for switches which have switch MAC address, all devices that connected to the Internet have this unique identifying number, from desktop computers, laptops, cell phones, tablets to wireless security cameras, and even your connected refrigerator have a MAC address. You may have noticed that every piece of hardware on your local network has a MAC address in addition to the IP address.

Switch Mac Address: WhatвЂ™s It and How Does it Work?