His question seemed to be looking for an overview rather than meat and potatoes.
Others answered in a similar (though less long-winded way). My PC's Mac doesn't matter except in my own subnet. Changing the MAC won't matter unless it's a duplicate on your own subnet. Kev. ----- Original Message ----- From: "S�bastien Taylor" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, January 03, 2003 2:37 PM Subject: Re: (clug-talk) MAC s Actually no, that's not how it works. When sending ethernet data you use MAC to address devices, when sending TCP/IP data you use IP addresses. Since on an ethernet network TCP/IP is sent over ethernet, TCP/IP packets are encapsulated in ethernet frames. You can have different physical network types on the same TCP/IP subnet which can talk to each other using IP addresses...obviously the same cannot be said about MAC addresses, since the next network might not be ethernet based. I would recommend reading up on the ISO/OSI Network Model. Here's some hits... http://www.google.ca/search?hl=fr&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=OSI+Network+Model&meta = Le 3 Janvier 2003 13:45, vous avez �crit : > An IP address is used to uniquely locate a NIC on a different subnet. A > MAC is used to uniquely locate a NIC on the same Subnet. > > So the IP address is used to hop across routers until it reaches the > network the destination is a member of (192.168.0.0/24 for example). The > router will then pass the packet to the MAC (NOT THE IP) address of the > recipient. > > MACs are therefore necessary to allow communication on a network. I can't > think of a disadvantage. Potentially it could have some privacy > implications, because they obviously uniquely identify a PC, but this isn't > really much of a concern, MACs aren't passed across routers. Once a packet > leaves a given network, it uses an IP address until it reaches it's > destination. > > Being able to change your MAC address is a mixed blessing. If you change > your MAC to be the same as someone else's on your subnet, that can be > really fun. Particularly if the troubleshooter isn't experienced. Old > Card (Especially ARCnet (in my experience)) sometimes had duplicate MACs. > Being able to change you MAC is part of the TCP/IP spec. > > Kev. > > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "BentWig Nut" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Wednesday, January 01, 2003 3:58 PM > Subject: (clug-talk) MAC s > > > Hello all. > > > > Q1: What are the pros and cons of a M.A.C. address? > > > > Q2: What are the advantages and disadvantages of being able to > > > > change the MAC ? > > > > Waiting for the roof to fall in... > > > > > > > > > > > > _________________________________________________________________ > > MSN 8: advanced junk mail protection and 2 months FREE*. > > http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
