What is the significance of MAC address?
MAC address (Media Access Control) is a unique value associated with a network adapter called NIC. It is also known as the physical address or hardware address.
The significance of MAC address lies in its ability to physically identify a machine on the network. Since the MAC address is engraved on the NIC at the time of manufacturing, it is a permanent address that cannot be changed under any circumstances. This ensures that each node in a network can be uniquely identified, allowing network devices to identify the sender and receiver and decide a routing path to transmit data.
Explanation
The textbook explains that MAC address is crucial for network communication because it provides permanent, unique identification for each network node. Unlike IP addresses which can change when a node moves between networks, MAC addresses remain constant as they are hardware-encoded. This permanence makes them reliable for physical device identification on a network.