International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology, 2019

Vol. 3, Issue 11, ISSN No. 2455-2143, Pages 8-11

Published Online March 2019 in IJEAST (http://www.ijeast.com)

MAC ADDRESS ROUTING POLICY OVER THE IP

NETWORK
Md. Abdullah Yusuf Imam Mr. Prodip Kumar Biswas
Assistant Maintenance Engineer Sub-Technical Officer
Department Of ICT Department Of ICT
National University National University
Gazipur-1704, Bangladesh Gazipur-1704, Bangladesh

wireless home automation systems may require a 64-bit MAC

Abstract - Using MAC filtering on a network permits and address. When IPv6 network, the settings change a bit more.
denies network access to specific devices through the use of These networks translate 48-bit networks to 64-bit networks
blacklists and white lists. In IP networks, the MAC by inserting an FFFE value in the middle of all. These
address of an interface can be queried given the IP address identifiers are used to differentiate between 48-bit addresses
using the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) for internet and 64-bit addresses correctly.
protocol version 4 (IPV4) or the neighbor discovery
protocol (NDP) for IPV6 [1],[2]. In this way, ARP or NDP
is used to relate IP addresses (OSI layer 3) to ethernet III. WHAT ARE TYPICAL FORMATS FOR
MAC addresses (OSI layer 2) [3]. A MAC address is like a MAC ADDRESSES?
social security number which remains unchanged for a
person's life time (the device), while an IP address is like a Different formats that are used for MAC addresses, depending
postal code which can be changed. Now we find how MAC upon the network and specific hardware. These addresses are
& IP are related, how MAC route from pc to written in the format of MM:MM:MM:SS:SS:SS. This can
switch(Routing scheme). vary. Two additional formats for 48-bit addresses are MM-
MM-MM-SS-SS-SS or MMM.MMM.SSS.SSS.
Keywords-Mac, Ip, Route, Network, Address 48-bit address that is converted to a 64-bit address would be
formatted as MM:MM:MM:FF:FE:SS:SS:SS [7].
I. WHAT IS A MAC ADDRESS?

Cunche and Mathieu et al.(2018-08-22) in their work IV. WHAT DOES BIT NUMBER OF MAC
emphasize and addressed that MAC stands for Media Access ADDRESS MEAN?
Control in general. It is set of numbers that identifies network
devices. This number is set by the manufacturers and is Mathy Vanhoef and Matte Célestin and Cunche Mathieu and
embedded within the hardware so it cannot be changed. For Cardoso Leonardo and Piessens Frank et al.( 2018-08-22) in
this reason it is also known as a fixed address [4]. While it was their work emphasize and address that the first six digits or 24
known as an Ethernet address, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are among bits in a 48-bit network, is a prefix that is used to identify the
the technologies also use MAC addresses. manufacturer of the device. It is not unusual to find that
several devices created by the same manufacturer have
MAC address can be access through operating system by different prefix. This is because some of the biggest
using commands. IP addresses, MAC addresses are all unique. manufacturers utilize multiple prefixes across their products.
They all follow the same set of rules when it comes to format
[5]. The remaining 24 bits, is essentially a serial number. That
identifies the particular device. All products from the same
manufacturer that have the same prefix (or first set of 6 digits)
II. HOW MANY BITS ARE IN A MAC will have a distinct second set of numbers. Each will unique. If
ADDRESS? the prefix is different, the product identifier may be the same,
even when the products are from the same manufacturer. It
Aaron Mamiit et al (2014-06-12) in their work emphasize and may also find that the identifier is the same between two
addressed issues of MAC addresses are come up of 12-digit products from different manufacturers [8]. As already
numbers and are made up of 48 bits, or 8 bytes also. Some explained, each manufacturer has its own prefix, so this
types of hardware require a 64-bit MAC address [6]. Certain number will be vary. Every device will in some way have a
8
 International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology, 2019
Vol. 3, Issue 11, ISSN No. 2455-2143, Pages 8-11
Published Online March 2019 in IJEAST (http://www.ijeast.com)

completely unique MAC address, they were made by the same VI. 64-BIT MAC ADDRESSES
manufacturer or not.
Traditional MAC addresses are all 48 bits in length, few types
of networks require 64-bit addresses instead. TCP/IP networks
V. FORMAT OF A MAC ADDRESS based on IPv6 implement a different approach to
communicating MAC addresses compared to mainstream
MAC address is 12-digit (6 bytes or 48 bits) hexadecimal IPv4. Instead of 64-bit hardware addresses, though, IPv6
numbers. They are usually written in one of the following automatically translates 48-bit MAC address to a 64-bit
three formats: address by inserting a fixed 16-bit value FFFE in between the
vendor prefix and the device identifier [10],[11]. IPv6 calls
 MM:MM:MM:SS:SS:SS these numbers "identifiers" to distinguish them from true 64-
bit hardware addresses [12]. Example, a 48-bit MAC address
 MM-MM-MM-SS-SS-SS 00:25:96:12:34:56 appears on an IPv6 network as (commonly
written in either of these two forms):

 00:25:96:FF:FE:12:34:56

 0025:96FF:FE12:3456

VII. MAC ADDRESS AND DIFFERSNT

FUNCTIONS

Media Access Control Address (MAC address) of a device is a

unique identifier assigned to a network interface controller
(NIC) for communications at the Data link layer of a network.
MAC addresses are used as a network address for most IEEE
802 network technology, including Ethernet.

A MAC may be referred to as the Burned-in Address (BIA). It

also be known as an Ethernet Hardware Address (EHA),
hardware address or physical address [13].

A network node have multiple NIC and each NIC must has a
unique MAC address [14].

Grumbach Emmanuel et al.(2018-08-22) in their work

emphasize and addressed the issues also that Address can
either Universally Administered Addresses (UAA) or Locally
Fig.1. Mac Address translation from Hex to Binary Administered Addresses (LAA). Universally administered
address is uniquely assigned to a device by its manufacturer.
Leftmost 6 digits (24 bits) called a "prefix" is associated with The first three octets (in transmission order) identify the
the adapter manufacturer. Each vendor registers and obtains organization that issue the identifier and is known as the
MAC prefixes as assigned by the IEEE policy. Vendors often Organizationally unique identifier (OUI). The remain of the
possess many prefix numbers associated with their different address (three octets for EUI-48 or five for EUI-64) are
product. The prefixes 00:13:10, 00:25:9C and 68:7F:74 all assigned by that organization in nearly any manner they
belong to Linksys (Cisco Systems) [9]. please, subject to the constraint of uniqueness generally. A
The rightmost digits of a MAC address represent an locally administered address is assigned to a device by a
identification number for the specific device. All devices network administrator, overriding the burned-in address
manufactured with the same vendor prefix, each is given their process [15].
own unique 24-bit number. Hardware from different vendors
may happen to share the same device portion of the address. Universally Administered and Locally Administered
Addresses are distinguished by setting the second-least-
significant bit of the first octet of the MAC address. This bit is
called U/L bit, short for Universal/Local, which identifies how
the address is administered. If bit is 0, the address is
Universally Administered, if it is 1, the address will be
9
 International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology, 2019
Vol. 3, Issue 11, ISSN No. 2455-2143, Pages 8-11
Published Online March 2019 in IJEAST (http://www.ijeast.com)

Locally Administered. Example address 06-00-00-00-00-00 connections from one piece of networking equipment to the
the first octet is 06 (hex), the binary form of which is next and so on [19].
00000110, where the second-least-significant bit is 1. So, it is
a Locally Administered Address [16].
VIII. MAC ADDRESS ROUTING PROTOC0L

Fig.3. MAC address Routing

When information leaves one computer, it has a computer’s

network adapter’s MAC address. But when it arrives at any
Fig.2. Mac address anatomy router, that MAC address is removed from packet. When the
router sends the information further upstream to any ISP’s
The least significant bit of an address's first octet is 0 (zero),
router, it contains the MAC address of that router. When it
the frame is meant to reach only one receiving NIC. This type
of transmission is called Unicast. A Unicast frame is moves from the ISP’s router to another router on the internet,
transmitted to all nodes within the collision domain in the it contains the MAC address of the ISP’s last router. And so
switch/router. on.

IX. DECISION:CASE STUDY-

MAC address is meaningless outside of any local network. It

gets stripped out of the network packet by router and router’s
Mac Address is Route then.

X. CONCLUSION

Because MAC unique, MAC addresses can be used to track a

man. Cunche, Mathieu et al.(16 October 2016) in their work
Fig.3. Mac address partition emphasize and addressed the issues in which he mention when
anyone walk around, his smart phone scans for nearby Wi-Fi
If the least significant bit of the first octet is set to 1, the frame
networks and broadcasts its MAC address.
will still send only once, NICs will choose to accept it based
on criteria other than the matching of a MAC address:
Example, based on a configurable list of accepted multicast XI. REFERENCE
MAC address. This is called Multicast Addressing [17],[18].
[1] Cisco Retrieved "Configuring Port Security" 14
While the IP addresses involved indicate the original source November 2015
and ultimate destination, a MAC address is used only on [2] Standards.ieee.org "IEEE -SA- IEEE Registration
Authority", Retrieved 2018-09-20.
10
 International Journal of Engineering Applied Sciences and Technology, 2019
Vol. 3, Issue 11, ISSN No. 2455-2143, Pages 8-11
Published Online March 2019 in IJEAST (http://www.ijeast.com)

[3] Standards.ieee.org "IEEE -SA- IEEE Registration [12] Wang Winkey "Wireless networking in Windows
Authority", Retrieved 2018-09-20. 10". Missing or empty |url= (help)
[4] IEEE-SA "Standard Group MAC Addresses: A [13] Grumbach Emmanuel "iwlwifi: mvm: support
Tutorial Guide" (PDF), Retrieved 2018-09-20. random MAC address for scanning". Linux commit
[5] IEEE-SA "Guidelines for Fiber Channel Use of the effd05ac479b, Retrieved 2018-08-22.
Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI)" [14] Matte Célestin "Wi-Fi Tracking: Fingerprinting
(PDF),Retrieved 2018-10-11. Attacks and Counter-Measures". 2017, Retrieved
[6] Support forums.cisco.com "Overview of Layer 2 2018-08-22.
Switched Networks and Communication | Getting [15] Mathy Vanhoef and Matte Célestin and Cunche
Started with LANs | Cisco Support Community | Mathieu and Cardoso Leonardo and Piessens Frank
5896 | 68421", Retrieved 2016-05-17. "Why MAC address randomization is not enough: An
[7] James Bamford "The Most Wanted Man in the analysis of Wi-Fi network discovery mechanisms".
World" Wired. p. 4 Retrieved 2014-12-01. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
[8] Aaron Mamiit (2014-06-12) "Apple Implements [16] Célestin Matte and Cunche Mathieu and Rousseau
Random MAC Address on iOS 8. Goodbye, Franck and Vanhoef Mathy "Defeating MAC address
Marketers". Tech Times, Retrieved 2014-12-01. randomization through timing attacks ", Retrieved
[9] Matte Célestin "Wi-Fi Tracking: Fingerprinting 2018-08-22.
Attacks and Counter-Measures". 2017, Retrieved [17] Cunche, Mathieu "I know your MAC Address:
2018-08-22. Targeted tracking of individual using Wi-Fi" (PDF).
[10] Mathy Vanhoef and Matte Célestin and Cunche 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2014. 20."ifconfig (8)
Mathieu and Cardoso Leonardo and Piessens manual page", Retrieved 16 October 2016.
Frank."Why MAC address randomization is not [18] Security, Stack exchange.com "Hidden network no
enough: An analysis of Wi-Fi network discovery beacons", Retrieved 16 October 2016.
mechanisms", Retrieved 2018-08-22. [19] Configuration Guide for Cisco Secure ACS
[11] Matte Célestin and Cunche Mathieu and Rousseau 4.2.Cisco.February 2008."Agent less Host
Franck and Vanhoef Mathy "Defeating MAC address Configuration Scenario", Retrieved-2015-09
randomization through timing attacks", Retrieved
2018-08-22

11