Wednesday, February 2, 2011

logical address and physical address


In a system, there are two types of addresses: logical and physical. Another name for logical address is IP address and it is set by your Internet service provider (ISP) or your router. If you have a router then you have a LAN, which sets a logical address for your computer. Your router will have an logical address set by your ISP.
The physical address is also called the MAC address and it is generated by the manufacturer. (but only to a given extent)

Because a MAC address is assigned (by the FCC) to a company to use for a range of products.
For example:
01:23:45:00:00:00 - 01:23:45:FF:FF:FF
Would be their "range" of MAC addresses. They use a coding called Hex which is not to far off from what you know which is base-10 (0-9).
Instead hex uses (0-F). 0123456789ABCDEF
A = 10, B = 11, etc.

10 comments:

  1. you given short and nice description which helps to understand it easily

    ReplyDelete
  2. MAC addresses are not assigned by the FCC. The first three bytes of a MAC denote the manufacturer, and the last three bytes are the NIC number. The first three bytes are assigned to each manufacturer by the IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers). When a manufacturer has exhausted all MAC addresses available under their first three bits, then they apply to the IEEE for another manufacturer address.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have a few answer for my final test.,it is about logical address.choose the true statement.
    A) an address seen by the memory unit
    B) an address seen by the memory bus
    C) an address generated by the Central Processing Unit (CPU)
    D) An address generated by the Memory Management Unit (MMU)

    ReplyDelete
  4. can we change the physical address (network concept)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, physical address cann't be changed by the user.

      Delete
  5. @Ganesh yes you can change the physical address. Mostly used in network virtualisation.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The IP Address is a unique number assigned to your computer connection by your home or office or employer's Internet Service Provider (ISP). This unique number serves as the ID of your connection when it's accessing the Internet. It functions like your street address—if someone wants to send you mail or you order a pizza, your address is needed for the postman or delivery person to find your home. The same process applies to your computer, your IP address is used to route information from the Internet to your computer.

    ReplyDelete