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MAC Address

In order to make computer devices or hardware interfaces within the same local network to communicate with each other, a unique identifier is required so that each machine can recognize other machines. This identifier is called the MAC address. In this sheet, you can get quick overview about format of 48 bit MAC address.

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249 views1 page

MAC Address

In order to make computer devices or hardware interfaces within the same local network to communicate with each other, a unique identifier is required so that each machine can recognize other machines. This identifier is called the MAC address. In this sheet, you can get quick overview about format of 48 bit MAC address.

Uploaded by

Mohammed Publications
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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com
MAC Address Format
In order to make computer devices or hardware interfaces within the same local
network to communicate with each other, a unique identifier is required so that each
machine can recognize the other machine. This identifier is called the MAC address.
This MAC address is assigned by the manufacturer of the device. If there is communication
with remote network over internet, IP address is used instead. MAC address can’t be
changed as it is assigned by the manufacturer during production phase. IP address
can be changes according to the operating network.
In order to make sure that no network device will have the same MAC address of
other devices. IEEE is organizing global MAC address generation. If an organization
wants to have MAC address for its products, it has to pay 550$ for IEEE Registration
Authority to get a block of 4096 MAC addresses (IAB “Individual Address Block”),
or pay 1650$ to get a block of 16 M MAC addresses (OUI “Organizationally Unique
Identifier”).
IEEE defined two standards for the format of MAC addresses, EUI-48 and EUI-64.
The first one uses 48 bits for describing the MAC address, the other uses 64 bits. The
format of EUI-48 can be shown in the figure.

This format consists of 6 octets. What is important to point out here is the first and
second bits of the first octet are used for special purpose. The First bit is used for what
is called group addressing. If there is a message that is needed to be sent to a set of
Network Interface Controllers, the first bit will be set to 1 in this message. According
to that all the specified NIC will accept this message. If the first bit is set to 0, this
message will be accept by specific NIC.
The second bit is used to indicate if the MAC address is generated as a global
identifier or used as a local identifier. Global identifiers are unique and depend on the
manufacturer who produced the network device. Local identifier can be generated
for local usage within some organizations.
For more details about this format, it is defined in the standard ISO/IEC 10039.

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