What is a MAC address
The video begins by introducing the concept of a MAC address, which stands for media access control address.
A MAC address serves as a unique identifier for every network device, ensuring that no two devices globally share the same MAC address.
It consists of a 6-byte hexadecimal number that is permanently assigned to each Network Interface Card (NIC) during manufacturing.
The MAC address is divided into two segments: the first three bytes indicate the manufacturer of the NIC, while the last three bytes represent a unique number that identifies each device within that manufacturer's range.
Additionally, MAC addresses are also known as physical addresses or hardware addresses, emphasizing their role in device identification.
The formatting of MAC addresses varies across operating systems; for instance, Windows displays them with dashes, while Apple and Linux systems use colons, and Cisco systems separate them with periods.
