<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revision pkgversion="3.7.1" version="0.2" date="2012-11-16" status="outdated"/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>.</p>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>Click on <gui>Network</gui> to open the panel.</p>
    </item>
    <item>
      <p>Choose which device, <gui>Wi-Fi</gui> or <gui>Wired</gui>, from
      the left pane.</p>
      <p>The MAC address for the wired device will be displayed as the
      <gui>Hardware Address</gui> on the right.</p>
      
      <p>Click the
      <media its:translate="no" type="image" src="figures/emblem-system-symbolic.svg"><span its:translate="yes">settings</span></media>
      button to see the MAC address for the wireless device 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>
