A MAC Address is composed of which two elements?

A MAC Address consists of two primary components, which are the Organizationally Unique Identifier (OUI) and the vendor-assigned address. The OUI is the first part of the MAC address and is typically three bytes in length. It uniquely identifies the organization that manufacturer the network device. The second part is known as the vendor-assigned address and is also three bytes in size. This portion is assigned by the manufacturer and ensures that each device produced by them has a unique identifier for network communication.

Understanding the structure of a MAC address is crucial in networking because it plays a key role in how devices communicate within a local network. The combination of the OUI and the vendor-assigned address guarantees that no two network interface cards (NICs) will have the same MAC address, which is essential for identifying devices on a network without conflict.

The other choices reference different types of identifiers or addresses that are not related to MAC addresses. For instance, IP addresses and subnet masks pertain to layer 3 addressing and routing, which is outside the scope of MAC layer functionality. Similarly, the combination of network identifier and unique identifier does not accurately represent how MAC addresses are structured and assigned.