How Does Our MAC Lookup Tool Work
Our MAC address vendor lookup tool has two modes. You either:
- Find Vendor/Manufacturer details by Inputting the complete Mac Address or the OUI (organizational unique identifier)
or
- Find Mac Address details by inputting vendor or manufacturer name.
Depending on your input, you will get different results.
Suppose you input the OUI number or a MAC address, in that case our MAC address lookup tool will return information about the NIC’s vendor, vendor address, whether the NIC is physical or virtual, and other such information.
If you input the vendor name, the tool will return a list of all OUIs registered to that vendor.
Our MAC address identifier uses the IEEE’s public database of OUI numbers to determine the device's manufacturer. The IEEE database also provides other details about the vendor, such as their address and the MAC address block size assigned to them. All this data is publicly available. Our MAC vendor lookup tool simply pulls and presents it in a convenient way.
How to Check MAC Address/Vendor Details With Our Tool
This tool is quite easy and straightforward to use. Here are the simple steps you can follow to use it.
- Open the MAC Address Lookup tool.
- You can enter the full MAC address, vendor name, the IAB, or the OUI number into the input field. The tool will also accept the input in multiple formats, such as: 40:A8:F0:4F:50:9E or 40-A8-F0-4F-50-9E.
- Click on the “Search” button to start the lookup
After a few moments, the output of the performed lookup will be displayed, so you can check the vendor details. You can also download the results either in JSON or TXT file format so that you can peruse them at your leisure.
MAC Address Lookup Results-An Explanation
The results are quite detailed. You can obtain the following information.
- Mac address prefix: This refers to the first six digits of the MAC address. The prefix is also known as the OUI number, and it identifies the vendor/manufacturer of the NIC.
- Vendor/manufacturer name: Self-explanatory. This part lists the vendor’s name to which the OUI number is assigned by the IEEE.
- Address block size: Each vendor is provided a specific block of MAC addresses. The block refers to a range of MAC addresses, and it can have three different sizes: L, M, and S. L stands for large and has 16 million addresses. M stands for medium and has 1 million addresses. S stands for small and has 4096 addresses.
- Address update history: Address update history shows the various changes that the particular MAC address vendor has gone through. It can show changes in vendor name and address as well as the dates on which the information changed.
- Whether the address belongs to a virtual machine or a real machine: Not all MAC addresses belong to real physical machines. A virtual machine will generate a fake MAC address, and this part of the result will show whether the address is from a virtual machine or a real one.
- Whether the address is valid and registered: Self-explanatory. As long as a MAC address has the correct format and is registered to a vendor, you will get results, and this section will say “Yes”. If the address is not registered, then the tool will return no result.
Features of This MAC/OUI Lookup Tool?
Below are the features that you get from our tool:
- Single Click Search: This tool allows you to perform the MAC/Vendor (OUI) lookup with a single click to idenitfy any device's mac details. Just enter your MAC address and click on the “Search” button.
- Thorough Results: Our Mac checker provides you with comprehensive details against a MAC address, including vendor details, address, registration, history, etc.
- MAC & Vendor-Based Search: Our tool offers two flexible lookup methods. You can search by providing a MAC address to get vendor details. You can also search by entering the vendor's name to get the list of MAC addresses registered under their name.
- No Costs Involved: This tool is entirely free to use. No sign-up process or costs are involved.
- Save Information: This MAC address checker allows you to save the results by downloading them into two formats, i.e., JSON and CSV.
- Multilingual: It is designed while keeping the global audience in mind and is available in Spanish, Korean, and Turkish at the time.
What Are The Benefits of Performing a MAC Lookup
When you lookup MAC address of your device it provides you with several benefits, especially in an enterprise/corporate environment. Let’s check them out.
- Device ID: A MAC address provides crucial information necessary to identify a device in a network. With a MAC address checker, network admins can check the device ID of all systems on their network and set up MAC address filtering.
- Troubleshooting Connectivity Issues: MAC addresses are used to connect devices in an internal network. Due to issues with the NIC, connectivity problems can occur. By performing a MAC address check, you can find the company that created the NIC and look for new drivers and solutions on their site to fix the problem. This is useful in a corporate setting with hundreds of devices where doing this manually is costly and time-intensive.
- Network Security: Different vendors make NICs in their ways. Knowing which vendor made your NIC, you can learn about known security vulnerabilities and patch them. This is only possible when you perform a MAC address check, which provides that information.
- Asset Tracking: In large corporate networks, organizations often maintain a list of approved devices. An OUI lookup helps with asset tracking by associating MAC addresses with their manufacturers. This enables you to keep an inventory of devices on the network.
What is a MAC address?
A MAC (Media Access Control) address is a 12-character hexadecimal code which is used during local area networking to identify individual devices in the network. A complete mac address is divided into six groups separated by colons or dashes. It belongs to a network interface card (NIC) and have two components, i.e., OUI and Serial numbers.
What is an OUI number?
OUI (Organizationally Unique Identifier) is a 24-bit number composed of the first three bytes (6 hex digits) of a MAC Address. For example, if your MAC address is “00-1A-2b-3C-4D-5E”, the first six hex digits “00-1A-2B” will be the OUI. IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) assigns these numbers to identify vendors who manufacture networking devices.
What is the Vendor Number?
The vendor number is another name for OUI, which is the first six hex digits of a MAC address. Companies need to purchase and register these numbers from IEEE and can get multiple OUIs assigned to them. See for yourself in the image below. It is a MAC address in which the first six characters “00-1A-2B” refer to the vendor number.
What is Serial Number?
A serial number refers to a MAC address's last 24 bits (last six hexadecimal digits). For example, if “00-1A-2B-3C-4D-5E” is a device MAC address, the last six characters “3C-4D-5E” will be its serial number. Serial numbers are assigned by the device manufacturer and serve as a unique identifier for each device produced under the same OUI.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Why do I Need To Do a MAC/Vendor lookup?
You may need to perform a lookup to find the manufacturer of your device, so you can do additional things like:
- Troubleshoot connectivity issues
- Find the manufacturer's website for device drivers
These are important tasks for IT professionals to ensure network connectivity.
Can this lookup tool identify a device with its MAC address?
Yes and no. Our tool cannot identify the exact device model and type. However, the MAC address checker can help you find the vendor information, which can provide clues to the device type. For example, if the vendor is apple, you can guess that the device is an iPhone or a Macintosh.
So, yes, you can partially identify the device with its MAC address.