eolas/neuron/4e66db01-35b6-4b9c-aab8-2a0429e30df2/MAC_addresses.md
2024-11-14 14:15:53 +00:00

17 lines
586 B
Markdown

---
tags: [networks]
created: Tuesday, August 06, 2024
---
# MAC addresses
A Media Access Control (MAC) address is a physical address in contrast to, say,
an IP address which is logical.
Each device on a [local network](./Link_Layer_of_Internet_Protocol.md) has a MAC
as a unique identifier. It is a hardware-based, physical attribute of the
device, typically permanently encoded onto a non-volatile memory chip attached
to the ![network_card](static/Network_card.md).
MAC addresses consist of 6 bytes (48-bits) represented as 12
[hexadecimal_digits](Hexadecimal_number_system.md).