Every NIC has a
hardware address that's known as a MAC, for Media Access Control. Where IP addresses are associated
with TCP/IP (networking software), MAC addresses are linked to the hardware of
network adapters.
A MAC address is given
to a network adapter when it is manufactured. It is hardwired or hard-coded
onto your computer's network
interface card (NIC) and is unique to it. Something called the ARP
(Address Resolution Protocol) translates an IP address into a MAC address. The
ARP is like a passport that takes data from an IP address through an actual
piece of computer hardware.
Once again, that's
hardware and software working together, IP addresses and MAC addresses working together.
For this reason, the
MAC address is sometimes referred to as a networking hardware
address,
the burned-in address (BIA), or the physical address. Here's an example of
a MAC address for an Ethernet NIC: 00:0a:95:9d:68:16.
As you've probably
noticed, the MAC address itself doesn't look anything like an IP address (see
yours here). The MAC address
is a string of usually six sets of two-digits or characters, separated by
colons.
Some well-known
manufacturers of network adapters or NICs are Dell, Belkin, Nortel and Cisco.
These manufacturers all place a special number sequence (called the Organizationally
Unique Identifier or OUI) in the MAC address that identifies them as the
manufacturer. The OUI is typically right at the front of the address.
For example, consider
a network adapter with the MAC address "00-14-22-01-23-45." The OUI for
the manufacture of this router is the first three octets—"00-14-22."
Here are the OUI for other some well-known manufacturers.
Dell: 00-14-22
Nortel: 00-04-DC
Cisco: 00-40-96
Belkin: 00-30-BD
It's common for the
larger manufacturers of networking equipment to have more than one set of OUIs.
Networks and MAC
addresses.
All devices on the
same network subnet have different MAC addresses. MAC addresses are very useful
in diagnosing network issues, such as problems with IP addresses.
MAC addresses are
useful for network diagnosis because they never change, as opposed to a dynamic
IP address, which can change from time to time. For a network administrator,
that makes a MAC address a more reliable way to identify senders and receivers
of data on the network.
So, If any problem to connect internet Pls contacts Your Service Provider.
