On Fri, Jun 11, 2010 at 8:52 PM, Tony Li <[email protected]> wrote: > Does the MAC address 'point'? It seems like a MAC 'address' is nothing more > than a flat, globally unique namespace.
Tony, A MAC address doesn't "point" or DO anything else. It's just a big integer. A MAC address is USED by at least three distinct functions: 1. By a switch determining which port or ports to repeat a received packet on. 2. By a NIC determining whether a particular packet should be repeated from the wire to a host's software stack. 3. By a network stack preparing to transmit a particular packet to its next hop. What identification function do you see happening here? All I see is forwarding decisions. Regards, Bill Herrin -- William D. Herrin ................ [email protected] [email protected] 3005 Crane Dr. ...................... Web: <http://bill.herrin.us/> Falls Church, VA 22042-3004 _______________________________________________ rrg mailing list [email protected] http://www.irtf.org/mailman/listinfo/rrg
