Write the MAC Address in Hex

About this interactive

From the lesson: - **Six octets, 48 bits.** Written in hexadecimal: each hex digit is four bits, from 0 (0000) to F (1111), so each octet is two hex digits and the whole address twelve. - **To convert,** split each octet into two groups of four bits and look each up: 1100 is C, 1101 is D, so 1100 1101 is CD. | Binary | Hex | Binary | Hex | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 0000 to 1001 | 0 to 9 | 1100 | C | | 1010 | A | 1101 | D | | 1011 | B | 1110 | E | | | | 1111 | F | - **The OUI** is the first three octets: the organizationally unique identifier, registered to a vendor. - **The last three octets** are the vendor's own numbers for each interface, kept unique so no two NICs share an address. The video calls this second half the UAA; strictly, the universally administered address is the whole burned-in 48-bit address, and these three octets are the vendor-assigned part of it.

What you'll learn

Convert a MAC address octet from binary to hexadecimal, four bits to each hex digit
Pick out the OUI, the first three octets that identify the vendor, and the three octets the vendor assigns to the interface itself
Count a MAC address's bits, octets and hex digits

Aligned to

CompTIA Network+

1.1 Explain concepts related to the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model.

Cisco CCST Networking

1.1 Identify the fundamental conceptual building blocks of networks

Key terms

MAC Address: A 48-bit hardware address assigned to a network interface and written as six hexadecimal octets, such as 00:1A:2B:3C:4D:5E. It identifies a device uniquely on a local network segment, and switches forward frames by looking it up in their MAC address table.
Hexadecimal: A base-16 number system using digits 0–9 and letters A–F; each hex digit maps to exactly 4 bits, making it a compact shorthand for representing binary data.
Organizationally Unique Identifier: The first three octets of a MAC address assigned to a specific manufacturer or vendor to identify the organization that produced the network interface card.
Burned-In Address: A MAC address permanently assigned to a network interface card by its manufacturer at the time of production.
Network Interface Card: A hardware component that connects a computer to a network.

Topics

Mac Address Hexadecimal Binary Oui Interactive Calculation

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