Hardware Address

Each host on a network has a hardware address, which also identifies it to its peers. This address is physically assigned to the machine's CPU or network interface by the manufacturer. Each hardware address is unique.

This book uses the term Ethernet address to correspond to the hardware address. Because Ethernet is the most commonly used network media on Solaris-based networks, the text assumes that the hardware address of your Solaris host is an Ethernet address. If you are using other network media, such as FDDI, refer to the documentation that came with your media for hardware addressing information.