A Media Entry Management deal with (MAC deal with) is a novel identifier assigned to a community interface controller (NIC) to be used as a community deal with in communications inside a community section. This use is widespread in most IEEE 802 networking applied sciences, together with Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Inside a community section, a MAC deal with is used as a vacation spot deal with within the knowledge hyperlink layer of the OSI mannequin.
MAC addresses are sometimes written as six teams of two hexadecimal digits, separated by colons, for instance 01:23:45:67:89:AB. The primary three teams are assigned by the producer of the NIC, and the final three teams are assigned by the producer of the gadget that the NIC is put in in. MAC addresses are used to establish units on a community and to regulate entry to the community. They’re additionally used to trace the motion of units on a community and to troubleshoot community issues.