The Format of a MAC Address
Traditional MAC addresses are 12-digit (6bytesor 48bits)hexadecimal numbers.
Each vendor registers and obtains MAC prefixes as assigned by theIEEE.
Vendors often possess many prefix numbers associated with their products.
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The rightmost digits of a MAC address represent an identification number for the specific equipment (S).
Among all devices manufactured with the same vendor prefix, each is given a unique 24-bit number.
Hardware from different vendors may share the same gear portion of the address.
TCP/IP networks based on IPv6 also implement a different approach to communicating MAC addresses compared to mainstream IPv4.
IPv6 calls these numbers identifiers to distinguish them from true 64-bit hardware addresses.
Media Access Control operates at Layer 2 of theOSI model, whileInternet Protocoloperates atLayer 3.
This allows MAC addressing to support other kinds of networks besides TCP/IP.
IP networks manage the conversion between IP and MAC addresses usingAddress Resolution Protocol(ARP).
When cloning isn’t available, the customer must ping the service provider to register their new gateway machine.
