Mac Address and IP Address

Both Mac Address and IP Address are special identifiers assigned to devices that connect to a network, but they have some differences. The article will present the most common misconceptions about these two types of addresses and clear up any remaining confusion. There are various ways of assigning addresses to networked devices, but the two most common types are IP Address and Mac Address.

What is IP Address?

IP address is short for Internet Protocol, which is used to identify devices on the Internet. The most common types of IP addresses are IPv4 and IPv6. Ip addresses are assigned to every node on the network. Here is a list of some common types of addresses.

1234.5678.9876 (My Router) 192.168.0-255.0-255-192-168-1 (Home Routers) 172-20-101 (Server).

In order describe the device above we can say its IP Address is 1234.5678@172-20-101 or simply IP: 172.20.101.1234.5678.9876.

Functions of IP Address:

• It is the unique identifier for every device on the internet
• It uniquely identifies a node on an internet site
• It can be used to determine where packets are coming from or going to
• It is used to route traffic between networks

What is a Mac Address?

A Mac address is short for Media Access Control, which is a unique identifier assigned to network devices such as printers, laptops and routers. Each device connected to the network has its own unique Mac address that has been assigned by its manufacturer. Computers and laptops have no way of communicating with other devices such as printers and routers. The purpose of a Mac address is to identify every device connected to the network. It does not ascertain information about the device such as manufacturer or model number.

Function of Mac Address:

• It is a unique identifier assigned to every device on the network
• It uniquely identifies the nodes on the network
• It can be used to determine where a packet is coming from or going to

Difference between IP Address and Mac Address:

1) There is no need to change the addresses of network devices because MAC addresses are unique which cannot be changed in the existing network. 

2) The changes in MAC addressing are not shown externally to the nodes in the networks which used these addressing methods, thus it takes time for them to adapt when these addressing methods are introduced into the networks.

3) IP addresses are easily configured and implemented because they are available to station devices already.

4) Mac addressing is not preferable since it cannot be found externally.

5) There are many ways through which IP addresses can be assigned, while there is only one way of assigning Mac addresses to network devices, the manual configuration. 

6) There are many free tools that can scan, analyze and report the current IP address and its configuration on a network confirming its uniqueness among the nodes in the network.

7) IP addresses can be viewed with human eyes, while this is not possible for Mac addresses.

8) IP addresses are changeable and they are used to address devices over the internet while this is not possible with the Mac addresses.

9) IP addresses are used to identify devices on a Local Area Network (LAN), while Mac Addresses are only used in larger networks that span beyond the local area.

10) There is no direct relationship between the node devices on a network and their respective Id’s. This makes it easier to substitute a single device in a network based on its IP address without any manual assignment of new IP address to the other nodes in the network (as they do not have any external identifier).

Conclusion:

The major difference between these two identifiers is that IP addresses identify every node in a network while Mac addresses identify network devices such as printers, laptops and routers. The function of Mac Address is to uniquely identify every device mounted on a computer like hard disks, USB flash drives and so forth with their model numbers. It also distinguishes between different models of the same brands.

The main difference between these two addressing methods is that the IP addresses can be easily configured and managed while Mac addresses are not changeable by anyone. For example, when a person wants to replace one hard disk in his computer he would simply have to change the Ip address instead of manual configuration for new hardware. This shows that using this method saves time and efforts in configurations.