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Just like how individuals are unique, devices are unique too! Not in a physical sense but by the way they identify themselves in a network. In other words, every device on a network has a unique address that helps with its identification. This unique address is called the IP address. What is the IP Address?Internet Protocol (IP) address is a set of numbers that play a two-pronged role in a network – one to identify a device uniquely and the other to identify its location. How does it work? Whenever you open a website, your browser sends a request to the Domain Naming Server, where the human-readable URL is converted into a machine-readable set of numbers. Next, these numbers are used to identify the location and the server that contains the information we need. Finally, a message is sent to that server, and the contents received from it are displayed on your browser. This entire process is quicker than the battling of your eyelid, and that’s why we don’t know its complexity. This machine-readable address is the IP address, and it is in the form of xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. Each of these can be a number from 0 to 255. For example, the IP address of the Google server is 8.8.8.8 while that of ESPN is 45.63.254.129. As you can see, IPv4 uses 32 bits to identify a device uniquely. This format is called the IPv4, and since the sheer number of websites have exhausted all possible options that come with IPv4, the world is slowly migrating to IPv6, which contains 128 bits compared to the 32 bits IPv4. Now that you know what an IP address is, let’s see how you can find it. How to Find the IP Address of Your Device?To find the IP address of your device, go to Command Prompt, and type “ipconfig“. Scroll down to see your IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. You’ll be able to see the difference. What happens if you must know the IP address of another device? If you know the associated URL like google.com, you can use it. Otherwise, you’ll have to look for other information like a MAC address through which you can identify the IP address. And that’s precisely what we’re going to see next. What is a MAC Address?Finding a device’s IP address using the MAC address is a relatively lengthy process. But before that, let’s understand what a MAC address is. Media Access Control (MAC) address is a six-byte or 12-digit hexadecimal number hardcoded to a Network Interface Controller or Card. As you may have guessed, this is also a unique identifier used for communications within a network. Using the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), you can use this MAC address to identify a device’s IP using the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP). Note that MAC addresses are fixed while IP addresses keep changing. What is ARP?ARP is a set of procedures that connect an IP address that could change depending on the device’s location to the fixed MAC address hardwired into each NIC. It is impossible to map the IP address with the MAC directly because they have different formats and lengths, so an intermediary mapping protocol becomes essential. As you know, IPv4 uses 32 bits, but MAC uses 48 bits, and a protocol like ARP bridges the difference between these two lengths. So, how does ARP help? Working of the ARPEach time a new computer is added to the network, it gets a unique IP address. This computer starts communicating with other computers by sending and receiving data packets. A piece of hardware equipment called the gateway is responsible for allowing these packets to and from a device. This gateway turns to the ARP system for getting the associated MAC address. The ARP system has something called an ARP cache or a table that maps a system’s IP and MAC address, and it immediately looks up this table to give the pertinent information. Every time a device sends a message, the gateway ensures that the IP-MAC address is mapped. Otherwise, it sends a new request for the mapping. The size of the ARP cache is limited, so addresses stay on for a specific time only. This is by design, and it is purged regularly to free the space. This is also done to prevent cyber attackers from stealing IP and MAC addresses by accessing the ARP cache. Now that we know what IP and MAC addresses and the underlying ARP are let’s see how you can find an IP address using a MAC address. How to Find an IP Address Using a Mac Address?Here are the step-by-step instructions on how you can find an IP address using a MAC address.
Thus, this is how you can find an IP address using a MAC address. One aspect to keep in mind is that this process works well if you have switches. But if you have a router, you will have to log into the router to get its MAC address and the corresponding IP address through it. Tools and UtilitiesWhile these steps may seem simple for many, they can feel overwhelming and arduous for some users, depending on each individual’s technical knowledge and experience. Even for tech-savvy users, this is not the most intuitive way to find the IP address. The good news is that many tools can ease this process. You must enter the MAC address on a UI from a user standpoint, and the tool automatically fetches the corresponding IP address. Thus, you don’t have to worry about ARP or other technical processes that run in the background. Here’s a list of tools that get the IP address using a MAC address:
Let’s take a look at the features of each of these tools so you can decide which one works best for you. 1. SolarWinds MAC Address Scanner – FREE TRIALSolarWinds MAC Address Scanner is one of the tools in its ENgineer’s Toolset bundle, and it helps to find the MAC addresses and their corresponding IP addresses of all devices on the network. Features The features of SolarWinds MAC Address Scanner are:
Pricing: Click here to get a quote. Download: Click here to download a fully functional 14-day free trial. 2. ManageEngine IP Address Monitoring ToolManageEngine IP Address Monitoring Tool is a part of the OpUtils suite of tools and is responsible for monitoring IP addresses and for mapping MAC addresses with their respective IP addresses. Features Below are the notable features of the ManageEngine IP Address Monitoring Tool.
Pricing: Click here to get a quote. Download: Click here to download this tool. 3. Advanced IP ScannerThe Advanced IP Scanner is a free tool that scans a network in seconds and provides all pertinent information based on the IP address, including the associated MAC address. Features The features of Advanced IP Scanner are:
Pricing: 100% FREE Download: Click here to download the Advanced IP Scanner. Thus, these are some of the tools and utilities that can make it easy for you to find a device’s IP address using a device’s MAC address. ConclusionTo recap, an IP address is a unique address for a device within a network that makes it easy to find and communicate with a device in a network. However, this IP address may not always be static and can change depending on the network to which a device connects. On the other hand, a MAC address is a physical address of a device that is hardwired into it, and it doesn’t change at any point. If you have a device’s MAC address, you can find the related IP address of the same device using a protocol called ARP. This protocol contains a table that dynamically maps the MAC address with the IP address of every device in the network. But the process involved is complex and requires considerable technical knowledge. To ease this process for everyone, there are many third-party tools and utilities to enter the MAC address through an intuitive user interface and get the associated IP address in return. This way, all the complex steps happen in the background, and from a user’s perspective, it is simple to use and provides information quickly. Besides IP addresses, these tools also provide other related information that can come in handy for network and device troubleshooting. How do I get a list of IP addresses on MAC?Find your IP address using the Mac Terminal
Open the Terminal either by using Spotlight search, or finding it in Applications >> Utilities. Enter one of the ipconfig mac commands below to find your IP. For wired connections, enter ipconfig getifaddr en1 into the Terminal and your local IP will appear.
Which layer would you find IP addresses and MAC addresses?A MAC address would be found in the Network Interface Layer (Layer 1) of the TCP/IP Model. An IP address would be found in the Internet Layer (Layer 2). To give you a small hint about the ports, TCP and UDP use port numbers for transmission.
How do I see all MAC addresses on my network?To see all the MAC addresses and their associated IP addresses, type “arp -a”. This command will list all the available MAC addresses in the system.
What protocol is used to find an IP address from a MAC address?Address Resolution Protocol, or ARP, is a communication protocol used for discovering the link layer address, such as a MAC address, associated with a given internet layer address, typically an IPv4 address, which is a 32-bit number that uniquely identifies a network interface on a machine.
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