A {hardware} deal with, also called a MAC deal with (Media Entry Management deal with), is a singular identifier assigned to a community interface controller (NIC). It’s a 48-bit quantity that’s sometimes written in hexadecimal format, with every pair of hexadecimal digits separated by a colon. For instance, a {hardware} deal with would possibly seem like this: 00:11:22:33:44:55.
{Hardware} addresses are used to determine units on a community. When a tool sends a packet of knowledge, the {hardware} deal with of the sender is included within the packet. This permits the recipient of the packet to know which machine despatched it. {Hardware} addresses are additionally used to manage entry to a community. A community administrator can configure a router or change to solely permit units with particular {hardware} addresses to hook up with the community.