====== MAC address setting ======

===== Name =====

    mac

===== Details =====

^ Type                | [[:cfgtype:hex|Byte sequence]]        |
^ DHCP option number  | not applicable                        |
^ ISC dhcpd syntax    | hardware ethernet                     |

===== Examples =====

=== Display the MAC address of interface "net0" ===

    iPXE> show net0/mac
    net0/mac:hex = 52:54:00:12:34:56

=== Pass the MAC address to a server-side boot script ===

    iPXE> chain http://boot.ipxe.org/demo/boot.php?mac=${net0/mac}

=== Set a user-defined MAC address for interface "net0" ===

    iPXE> ifclose net0
    iPXE> set net0/mac 02:00:69:50:58:45
    iPXE> ifopen net0

=== Restore the original MAC address for interface "net0" ===

    iPXE> clear net0/mac

=== Configure a DHCP reservation in ISC dhcpd ===

    # in /etc/dhcpd.conf
    host example1 {
        hardware ethernet 52:54:00:12:34:56;
        fixed-address 192.168.0.100;
    }

===== Description =====

Specifies the MAC address used to identify the network device in all transmitted and received packets.

===== See also =====

  * ''[[:cmd:ifstat]]''
  * ''[[:cmd:ifclose]]''
  * ''[[:cmd:ifopen]]''
  * [[:cfg|List of all iPXE settings]]

===== Notes =====

You should not normally need to change the MAC address.

You should change the MAC address only while the interface is closed.  You can close and re-open the interface using the ''[[:cmd:ifclose]]'' and ''[[:cmd:ifopen]]'' commands.

Not all iPXE network card drivers support setting a user-defined MAC address.  On unsupported cards you may see unexpected behaviour, such as a failure to receive packets destined for the user-defined MAC address.

You can obtain the MAC address using a hyphen ("-") instead of a colon (":") as a separator by using the [[:cfgtype:hexhyp]] settings type.  For example:

   iPXE> echo ${net0/mac:hexhyp}
   52-54-00-12-34-56