MAC Address simplified

• Media Access control (MAC) addresses are globally unique 6 bytes (48 bit) binary numbers assigned to a single NIC or other ethernet ports.
• Each & every NIC or ethernet ports in the universe is assigned with unique MAC address.
• MAC address is also called an Ethernet address, hardware address, physical address or unicast ethernet address.
• MAC addresses are often represented in 12 digit hexadecimal numbers. eg: 00:00:0C:12:34:56

How a MAC address is universally unique?

First, Ethernet products manufacturer should apply to IEEE for assigning a universally unique 3 bytecode, called the Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI). The manufacturer agrees to assign all NICs and other ethernet products a unique value for the last 3 bytes, a number that manufacturer has never used with that OUI. Finally, the MAC address of each and every device in the universe is unique.

For example, In the given MAC address 00:00:0C:12:34:56.
00:00:0C (First 3 bytes ) is OUI & 12:34:56 (Last 3 bytes) is a unique value used by the manufacturer with that particular OUI.

How to create VLANs?
What is NAT in Networking?
What is Router on a stick?
Syslog Severity Levels – Explained.
Why spanning Tree protocol is used?
VLAN Trunking Protocols – 802.1q & ISL.
How a MAC address is universally unique?
What is Syslog – System Message logging?
Media Access Methods – CSMA/CD, CSMA/CA, Token passing & Polling, Explained?