MAC & IP addresses

MAC address
A Media Access control (MAC) address could be a 48-bit address that's used for communication between 2 hosts in AN local area network atmosphere. it's a hardware address, which suggests that it's keep within the firmware of the network card.

A mac address is meant to be globaly unique. every network card merchant gets its share of addresses (represented by the first 24 bits).

The address is written within the type of 12 hexadecimal digits. as an example, consider the following mac address:

D8-D3-85-EB-12-E3

Every hexadecimal character represents 4 bits, therefore the first six hexadecimal characters represent the vendor (in this case, Hewlett Packard).
How to determine your own mac address?
If you're using Windows, enter the command prompt (Start – Programs – Accessories – Command Prompt). type the ipconfig/all command and you must see a field referred to as Physical address under the local area network adapter settings:

If you're using Linux, type the ifconfig command. you must see your mac address noted as HWaddress.

IP address
An ip address could be a 32-bit range that identifies a host on a network. it's typically written within the type of four decimal numbers seperated by periods (e.g. 10.0.50.1). 


In contrast to mac address, AN ip address is a logical address. Any device that wants to speak with different device using TCP/IP must have AN ip address. It is configured manually or it is obtained from a DHCP server.

The term “IP address” is usually used for IPv4, that is the fourth version of the ip protocol. a more recent version exists, IPv6, and uses 128-bit addressing.

Private ip addresses

There are 3 ranges of addresses which will be used in a private network (e.g. your home LAN). These addresses are not routable through the web.

Private addresses ranges:

10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255
172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255
192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255



How to determine your ip address

Windows users:

Enter the Command Promt (Start – Programs – Accessories – Command Prompt). Enter ipconfig. you must see a field referred to as ip address.

Linux users:

Enter ifconfig. you must see a field called inet addr: