The network layer deals with routing issues, forwarding issues and making sure that the packets are within the maximum packet size (MTU) and fragmenting them if not. IPX/SPX would be handling the network layer and transport layer in an Novell IPX world. The Network Layer is essentially handled by the IP layer in a TCP/IP stack. LLC deals with frame synchronization, flow control and error checking. MAC can have several types of packets running on top of it including IP, IPX, AppleTalk, ATM, X.

The MAC is the layer that deals with full duplex or half duplex ethernet cards, 10/100 or gigabit ethernet speed transfers it also the one dealing with point to point addressing. This is the Media Access Control Layer and along with the LLC (logic link layer) compose the entire Data Link Layer in an ethernet example. Apart from every computer on the internet having an IP address, each ethernet computer has a 48-bit MAC address. Let us take the ethernet cards for example. It can be described as the method in which two PCs communicate over the physical network layer. This layer must be error free and does not deal with routing issues. The Data Link Layeris responsible for transferring discreet packets of information over the physical layer. The Physical Layer encompasses the electrical signals and cabling issues. One can have the internet running on many different types of networks, and the cabling at the end comes down to a pair of wires or more depending on the standard being used (eg. It is the physical, raw cabling and the ones and zeros going over the analog wiring at a given rate. Now we can interpret the Physical Layer as the point at which the wires are connecting the networktogether. Specifically one can describe them as below. OSI 7 Layer ModelĪs you may know there are 7 layers in the OSI(Open Systems Interconnection) model. I found that people commented wondering how to get their MAC address, so I decided that it might be wise to follow up with an in depth discussion of the issue at hand. I recently wrote two articles on how to get your IP address in C++ and how to get your IP address in C# respectively. Khalid Shaikh explains the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) 7 Layer Model and shows you how to get your PC’s MAC address using a command line utility.Įnvironment:Compiled on: Visual Studio.

How to get ip address using mac address