M2Q4: MAC Hubs and Switches

Question 1

A MAC Address is comprised of how many total hexadecimal digits?

A. 48
B. 32
C. 8
D. 12

Answer 1

D. 12

Explanation: MAC Addresses are 48 bits in length, but are notated in hexadecimal format. 48 bits equals 12 hexadecimal digits as each hex digit represents 4 bits. MAC addresses are seen in the following formats:

• BC-83-85-15-72-2B
• BC:83:85:15:72:2B
• bc83.8515.722b

Question 2

The last 6 hexadecimal digits (or the last 24 bits) in a MAC Address represent the OUI (organizationally unique identifier) which identifies a vendor, organization or manufacturer of the Network Interface Card to which the MAC address is assigned.

A. True
B. False

Answer 2

B. False

Explanation: The first 6 hexadecimal digits (or first 24 bits) of a MAC address represent the OUI while the last 6 hex digits (or last 24 bits) are specific to the individual Network Interface Card.

Question 3

A MAC address is also known as a hardware address, burned-in address, or a ______________.

A. Logical address
B. Broadcast address
C. Physical address
D. Unicast address

Answer 3

C. Physical address

Explanation: MAC addresses have multiple alternate names of which physical address is one of them. A logical address represents an IP address or OSI Layer 3 address. The Broadcast and Unicast address are transmission methods within both physical and logical addressing schemes.

Question 4

Switches keep a table that contains these types of addresses while hubs do not.

A. Logical
B. TCP
C. IP
D. MAC

Answer 4

D. MAC
Explanation:Switches keep track of connected hosts by building a table that contains each MAC address and the port number to which the device is connected. Hubs do not use MAC address tables and are not considered to be “intelligent” devices.

Question 5

In computer networking, the term MAC means.

A. Media Address Control
B. Media Access Control
C. Media Abcess Control
D. Merlin’s Academy of Conjury

Answer 5

B. Media Access Control

Explanation: Media Access Control (MAC) defines the functions that are present in the MAC sublayer of the Data Link Layer of the OSI Model. These functions include the receiving and transmitting of frames, control of access to the physical medium, frame check sequence, and a physical addressing scheme. The addressing scheme used by Ethernet is called a MAC Address.