A Media Access Control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier assigned to a network interface controller (NIC) for use as a network address in communications within a network segment. This use is common in most IEEE 802 networking technologies, including Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Within a network segment, a MAC address is used as a destination address in the data link layer of the OSI model.
MAC addresses are typically written as six groups of two hexadecimal digits, separated by colons, for example 01:23:45:67:89:AB. The first three groups are assigned by the manufacturer of the NIC, and the last three groups are assigned by the manufacturer of the device that the NIC is installed in. MAC addresses are used to identify devices on a network and to control access to the network. They are also used to track the movement of devices on a network and to troubleshoot network problems.
