MAC address
A Media
Access Control (MAC) address is 48-bit (6 byte) address and that is
used for communication between two host in Ethernet environments. It is hardware
address, which means it stored in firmware of the network card.
Each network card
manufacturers get universally unique 3-byte code called the Organizationally
Unique Identifier (OUI). Manufacturer agree to gives all NIC MAC address
that begin with assigned OUI. The manufacturers then assign unique value for
the last 3 bytes, which ensure that every MAC address is globally unique.
MAC address is
usually written in the form of 12 hexadecimal number or digits. Such that,
consider the below MAC address:
D8-D3-85-EB-12-E3
Each hexadecimal
characters represent 4 bits, so first six hexadecimal character represents the
vendor (Hewlett Packard(HP) in above case).
How to find out your own MAC address?
If you use Windows, then
start the Command Prompt and (Start – Programs – Accessories – Command Prompt).
And Type “ipconfig/all” command and you should see field
called Physical Address under the Ethernet adapter setting:
If you are using
Linux Operating system, type “ifconfig” command. You should see
your MAC address of system refer to HWaddr.
IP address
An IP address is a
32-bit number that identify a host on network. Each device that want to commune
with other device on TCP/IP network need to have an IP address configured. Such
that, in order for accessing the Internet, your computer will need to have valid
IP address assigned (obtained by your router from ISP).
An IP address is
usually written in form of four decimal number separated by period (10.0.50.1). The
first part of address represents the network the device is on (10.0.0.0), while
second part of the address identify host device (10.0.50.1).
In contrast MAC
address, an IP address is logical address. It can be configuring manually or
can be obtaining from DHCP server.
NOTE
The term IP address is usually use for IPv4, which is the
fourth version of IP protocol. A newer
version exist, IPv6, and use 128-bit addressing.
Private IP address
There are three range
of address that can be use in a private network ( your home LAN). These address
is not routable through Internet.
Private address
ranges are given below:
·
10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255
·
172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255
·
192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255
How to find out your IP address:
If you use Windows,
start the Command Prompt. Enter the ipconfig command. You should
see field called as IP Address.
Linux users:
Enter “ifconfig”.
You should see field called as inet addr:
0 Comments