Answer to Question #246478 in Computer Networks for bhoro

Question

Explain the difference between a MAC address and an IP address. You should relate your answer to the OSI model

Answer 1

The main difference between MAC (Media Access Control) and IP addresses is that while IP address is used to identify a connection to a network, MAC address is used to associate a device with a network. MAC address contains a unique identification number assigned to Network Card used for hardware identification while IP address is assigned by an Internet Service Provider.

Mac addresses are used for broadcasting while on the other hand an IP address is used for multi-casting. MAC address implementation is in Data-Link layer of the OSI model while IP address implementation is in Network layer of the TCP/ IP model.

MAC address consists of 48-bit address associated with a network adapter in hexadecimal format while an IP address is either 4-byte (IPv4) or 8-byte (IPv8).