Physical address or MAC address

[ITlover]

I need a clarification between Physical address and MAC address of any computer hardware.

Is their any difference between Physical address and MAC address or are they both same?

How do we find out these addresses of any hardware from windowsxp, is their any perticular command that we can use to find out MAC or Physical address of any hardware?


Waiting for an explanation.

[EzyStvy]

MAC Address
Short for Media Access Control address, a hardware address that uniquely identifies each node of a network. In IEEE 802 networks, the Data Link Control (DLC) layer of the OSI Reference Model is divided into two sublayers: the Logical Link Control (LLC) layer and the Media Access Control (MAC) layer. The MAC layer interfaces directly with the network medium. Consequently, each different type of network medium requires a different MAC layer.

On networks that do not conform to the IEEE 802 standards but do conform to the OSI Reference Model, the node address is called the Data Link Control (DLC) address


"The only online dictionary and search engine you need for computer and Internet technology."

[flanzig1]

To find the MAC address of your NIC, open a command prompt and type "ipconfig/all". That will show all of the IP info and the MAC address. It will be a 12 count of letters and numbers in groups of two.

[glc]

In the ipconfig/all command, the MAC address is in fact shown as the physical address.

[ITlover]

Originally Posted by EzyStvy MAC Address Short for Media Access Control address, a hardware address that uniquely identifies each node of a network. In IEEE 802 networks, the Data Link Control (DLC) layer of the OSI Reference Model is divided into two sublayers: the Logical Link Control (LLC) layer and the Media Access Control (MAC) layer. The MAC layer interfaces directly with the network medium. Consequently, each different type of network medium requires a different MAC layer. On networks that do not conform to the IEEE 802 standards but do conform to the OSI Reference Model, the node address is called the Data Link Control (DLC) address "The only online dictionary and search engine you need for computer and Internet technology."

Thanks for giving this useful information, the details about OSI Reference Model is also available in CCNA books. Do you think that the books of CCNA are enough for us if we are interested to learn about OSI reference model?


Regards,