Can my laptop has two MAC address for two inbuilt interfaces

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Can my laptop has two MAC address for two inbuilt interfaces

Can my laptop (Macbook Pro with OS X) has two MAC address for two inbuilt interfaces, for example, my laptop has WiFi connection as well as Ethernet connection so, do these two interfaces has the same MAC address or different MAC address, while connecting over internet or LAN?

If it has same MAC address then, why my laptop shows two MAC address for two interfaces as, en0 and en1 when I type ifconfig command in terminal window?

MacBook Pro (13-inch Late 2011), Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Apr 19, 2012 8:58 AM

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Answer 1

ds store

Level 7

30,855 points

Apr 19, 2012 9:08 AM in response to harshbhosale

You have two, one MAC Address for WiFi and another for Ethernet.

WiFi security issues, at home and WiFi hotspots

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Answer 2

Courcoul

Level 6

18,684 points

Apr 19, 2012 9:46 AM in response to harshbhosale

The MAC (Media Access Control) address is an interface-specific network identifier meant to uniquely differentiate devices on the same LAN segment. As such, yours and any computer will have as many MAC addresses as means of connecting to networks are built in. By default, the 48-bit MAC addresses are burnt into ROM to ensure the interface has it available at all times. The MAC address pool is managed by the IEEE, which doles out blocks to manufacturers on an as-needed basis. The first 24 bits uniquely identify the asignee, who agrees not to duplicate the remaining 24 bits. Hence, the idea is that MAC addresses be unique in the world and no two interfaces have the same anywhere.

In the near future, when the Internet moves from IPv4 with 32 bit IP addresses to IPv6 with 128 bit IP addresses, MAC interface addresses will become very relevant in the process of calculating autogenerated IP addresses.

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