Certainly, let's continue with the explanation about Ethernet, MAC (Media Access Control) addresses, and how data is managed within networks:

Ethernet and MAC Addresses:

• Ethernet is a widely used protocol for sending data across individual links within networks.
• The data link layer, which includes Ethernet, abstracts the physical layer, allowing higher layers to operate regardless of the hardware used for connectivity.

History of Ethernet:

• Ethernet has been around since 1980, with its first standardized version published in 1983.
• Early networks often shared a single collision domain, where multiple devices communicated over a shared segment. Collisions occurred when multiple devices sent data simultaneously.

CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection):

• Ethernet utilized CSMA/CD to determine when the communication channel was clear for transmission.
• If collisions occurred due to simultaneous data transmissions, devices stopped sending and waited a random interval before attempting again.

• This random interval helped prevent immediate re-collisions.

Media Access Control (MAC) Addresses:

• In a collision domain, all devices received all communications across the segment.
• To identify the intended recipient, Ethernet uses Media Access Control (MAC) addresses, which are globally unique identifiers.
• A MAC address is a 48-bit number, often represented by six pairs of hexadecimal numbers (or octets).

Hexadecimal and Octets:

• Hexadecimal uses 16 digits, including numbers 0-9 and letters A-F.