What is MAC Address? Where MAC is Stored
What is MAC Address? MAC- Media Access Control is unique identifier that is assigned to network interface for communication at data link layer and is used as network address. It is often referred as a hardware or physical address. MAC’s are of 48-bit or 6 bytes and are written in MM:MM:MM:SS:SS:SS format. The first 3 bytes are ID number of manufacturer and next 3-bytes are serial number. It represents Layer 2 of TCP/IP where IP represents layer 3. MAC address supports hardware implementation whereas IP address supports software implementation. Where MAC is Stored? MAC addresses are called the “burned in address”. NIC manufactures will assign MAC address to the device and hardcoded is stored in ROM chip and preloaded into non-volatile memory like EEPROM. There are few USB adapters that are not having MAC address preloaded in firmware. These devices rely on software drivers that load on host system to assign the MAC. So MAC can store on NIC or OS, depends ...

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