Current File : //usr/share/help/C/gnome-help/net-macaddress.page
<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
xmlns:its="http://www.w3.org/2005/11/its"
type="topic" style="tip"
id="net-macaddress">
<info>
<link type="guide" xref="net-general"/>
<revision pkgversion="3.7.1" version="0.2" date="2012-11-16" status="outdated"/>
<revision pkgversion="3.10" date="2013-10-30" status="review"/>
<revision pkgversion="3.18" date="2015-09-28" status="final"/>
<credit type="author">
<name>Shaun McCance</name>
<email>shaunm@gnome.org</email>
</credit>
<credit type="author">
<name>Jim Campbell</name>
<email>jwcampbell@gmail.com</email>
</credit>
<credit type="editor">
<name>Michael Hill</name>
<email>mdhillca@gmail.com</email>
</credit>
<credit type="editor">
<name>Ekaterina Gerasimova</name>
<email>kittykat3756@gmail.com</email>
</credit>
<include href="legal.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>
<desc>The unique identifier assigned to network hardware.</desc>
</info>
<title>What is a MAC address?</title>
<p>A <em>MAC address</em> is the unique identifier that is assigned by the
manufacturer to a piece of network hardware (like a wireless card or an
ethernet card). MAC stands for <em>Media Access Control</em>, and each
identifier is intended to be unique to a particular device.</p>
<p>A MAC address consists of six sets of two characters, each separated by a
colon. <code>00:1B:44:11:3A:B7</code> is an example of a MAC address.</p>
<p>To identify the MAC address of your own network hardware:</p>
<steps>
<item>
<p>Open the <gui xref="shell-introduction#activities">Activities</gui> overview and
start typing <gui>Network</gui> for wired connections or <gui>Wi-Fi</gui> for
wireless connections.</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>Click on <gui>Network</gui> or <gui>Wi-Fi</gui> to open the panel.</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>Click the <media its:translate="no" type="image" src="figures/emblem-system-symbolic.svg"><span its:translate="yes">settings</span></media>
button next to the active connection.</p>
</item>
<item>
<p>The MAC address for the device will be displayed as the
<gui>Hardware Address</gui> in the <gui>Details</gui> panel.</p>
</item>
</steps>
<p>In practice, you may need to modify or “spoof” a MAC address. For example,
some internet service providers may require that a specific MAC address be
used to access their service. If the network card stops working, and you need
to swap a new card in, the service won’t work anymore. In such cases, you
would need to spoof the MAC address.</p>
</page>
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