But, take into consideration the fact that although TCP/IP â€“ which uses the IP protocol â€“ remains the most popular communication (in fact, it can be said to be the most dominant one since the Internet uses it), it is not the ONLY transport protocol.įor example, IPX/SPX ( Internetwork Packet Exchange/Sequenced Packet Exchange) addresses each computer using the MAC address (and some additional information). This is a valid question considering the fact that each address uniquely identifies a host or device.

Ok but why do we need both an IP and a MAC address? This makes it easy to find out where a user is connecting from. The addresses are unique across the Internet and can even be used to determine the location of a device because each country is assigned a range of addresses by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority ( IANA) and its regional subsidiary agencies that include AFRINIC (Africa), ARIN (USA, Canada, and some Caribbean nations), APNIC (Far East and Australia), LACNIC (Mexico, Central America, and South America), and RIPE NCC (Europe, Middle East, and Central Asia). The IP range for these addresses is from 0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255 â€“ the whole range (with the exception of private IP addresses and a few unusable or reserved IPs, of course).ĭevices and hosts with public or external IPs are globally accessible and can be reached from beyond the network they are on. Also, they are not necessarily unique identifiers â€“ a private IP can be used in two different network subnets.Ī Public or External IP address: this address is used to connect to the Internet â€“ for a global online presence. These addresses (and hence the devices) are not globally reachable, and cannot be searched or accessed from beyond the LAN. The ranges are best explained in the table below: Therefore, we can now say that a MAC address is a unique hardware identification number that is assigned to a NIC, whereas an IP address is an address that helps you identify a network connection that leads to the NIC, and thence, the host machine.įinally, we need to remember that connected devices can each have two IP addresses:Ī Private or Internal IP address: this is to be used on a Local Area Network (LAN) and for connectivity and messaging within an internal network. The NIC converts this hexadecimal number of the MAC address into binary numbers before processing and using it on the network. The OUI is followed by a unique identifier since here too there can be no two devices with the same MAC address.įrom the image above, we can see that a MAC address is a hexadecimal number. AA:BB:CC) are used to identify a NIC’s manufacturer and are known as an Organizational Unique Identifier ( OUI). MAC addresses are written in the “ AA:BB:CC:DD:DD:FF” format. In the case of a desktop or laptop computer, this hardware is the Network Interface Card ( NIC). But, in this case, the address is assigned to the hardware that is used to make the connection possible. Like an IP address, a MAC address also serves as an identifier for each device. If they do, it will cause an IP address conflict.Ī Media Access Control or MAC address is also a uniquely assigned address. It is also always unique â€“ no two devices on the same subnet can have the same IP address. This address can be assigned manually by configuring a device to save a Static IP Address, or automatically by a DHCP server (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol server) which assigns a Dynamic IP Address.Īn IP address can be in the format of (IP V4) or abcd:efgh:ijkl:mnop:qrst:uvwx:yzab:cdef (IP V6). Define IP addressĪn Internet Protocol or IP address is a numerical label or address assigned to each device that is connected to a computer network that uses IP (Internet Protocol) for communication.Īn IP address serves two primary purposes: for host or network interface identification and location addressing of a connected device. Letâ€™s delve right in, have a look at these two terms, and discuss what they are and why we need them at all.

Well, finding an IP address from a MAC address is the topic we will be looking at in this article. But, what if the only information you had was a MAC address and you needed to find out to whom it belonged? Perhaps you want to dig for more information based on a MAC address that has been listed in your router or you need to know who has been accessing your local network. It is common for network administrators and computer users to PING a device to find the IP address of a website, a host, or even a hostname.

Fing for mac using