Question

Discuss the difference between the IP, DNS and MAC addresses – how do the relate to one another in a network?

Answer 1

MAC Address and IP Address both are used to uniquely identify a machine on the internet. MAC address is provided by the chip maker while the IP Address is provided by the Internet Service Provider.

Here are some important key differences between MAC Address and IP Address:

Key	MAC Address	IP Address
Definition	MAC Address stands for Media Access Control Address.	IP Address stands for Internet Protocol Address.
Usage	MAC Address ensure that physical address of the computer is unique.	IP Address is a logical address of the computer and is used to uniquely locate computer connected via a network.
Format	MAC Address is of 6 bytes, hexadecimal address.	IP Address is of 4 bytes or of 16 bytes.
Access Protocol	MAC Address can be retrieved using ARP protocol	IP Address can be retrieved using RARP protocol.
Provider	Chip maker manufacturer provides the MAC Address.	Internet Service Provider, ISP provides the IP Address.

DNS ( DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM)

The DNS functions as a link to the IP address. Links do not contain actual information, but they do point to the place where the IP address information resides. It is convenient to think of IP addresses as the actual code and the domain name as a nickname for that code.

Whereas, an IP address is an actual set of numerical instructions. It communicates exact information about the address in a way that is useful to the computer but makes no sense to humans.