Re: [dylug] Networking question

abhijit deodhar wrote:
> Hi friends,
> 
> I had 1 doubt in CN:
> 
> We all know that every machine has a MAC address and
> an IP address.
> 
> My question is if we have (or develop) an application
> layer that understands MAC addresses( which is
> unique), do we still need IP addresses?
> 

Actually every layer of the TCP,OSI stack has its own way to addressing (or namespace-ing) a machine. What Kary said is right,
MAC is used for the lower layers of the stack, while IP is at the Network-layer. Still above it we have hostnames, mainly for
application layers catering for more humane addressing schemes. So most of the applications are IP and hostname-aware, but not
MAC-aware. But if there are applications which are MAC aware, you can _definitely_ be able to communicate, and here you will
not need IP or hostnames. Why these many addresses for a single node??

They are all for a reason, the intention behind this is, IMO, there should be a way
- to reassign (change) names of a node (IP/hostname)
- to assign multiple names to a node (IP/hostnames)
- to have a subgroup(s) of namespace for internal and external use (IPs)
- to visualize the network in a heirarchial fashion making it more comprehendible (hostnames)
- and still have a naming scheme which would uniquely identify a node (MAC. Oh yes, MAC can be spoofed too; buts thats irrelevant here)

And every layer stick to their naming convention without bothering what neighboring layers are using.


regs,
AG