IP – MAC Scanner can help you to ping IP conveniently. It is an easy way to check if there was an valid connection by ping IP.As a network tool, IP – MAC Scanner can not only ping IP, but also scan IP and MAC addresses on LAN.If you have got an valid connection by ping IP, you will see the connection details in the scanning results.If the connection is valid by ping IP, but the. Ping a computer using Network Utility on Mac Use Network Utility to see if your computer can communicate with a computer or other device at a specific network address. This type of test is called pinging the other device.
Every network card manufactured has a unique media access control (MAC) address number. This MAC address is what uniquely identifies you from the millions of other people connected to the Internet. MAC addresses are 48 bit alphanumeric addresses, so trillions of possibilities. The MAC address is assigned to a network interface card (NIC), which is then assigned an IP address. The IP address and MAC address work together to communicate on your network or on the Internet. Every web server or computer connected to the Internet has a network card with an assigned MAC address.
The ping command is a diagnostic tool that helps you identify IP addresses and host names connected to a network. You typically use it to identify if a remote computer is connected to the network. You can also use it to ping an IP address and get its fully qualified domain name.
You can’t directly ping a MAC address, but you can use the arp command to ping all devices connected to your own computer. This type of trick works for any device with a network card. For instance, you might want to find out how many printers are connected to a switch. You can telnet to that switch and run the arp command to see a list of devices (including printers) connected to that specific switch.
Finding the IP Address for a Device
The easiest way to practice with the ping, MAC and arp command is with your own computer. You probably have at least one device connected to your computer that you can view. You first need your computer’s IP address. You can do this by opening a command line and typing “ipconfig /all” in the command line utility. You might have several network adapters registered, so find the IP address for your main network card in the list.
After you find the IP address, you can run arp on your own computer. Type “arp –a ipaddress” where ipaddress is your IP address. The “-a” slash tells the arp command to list the arp cache on your computer. This lists all of the network devices connected to your computer, and the list also includes MAC addresses. MAC address is listed as the “physical address.” MAC addresses are the physical addresses, because they are static and assigned to your network card hardware.
The IP address is listed as the “Internet address.” You’ll notice that you have several IP addresses listed. Any hardware connected to your computer is listed, which could be a printer, router or a virtual device. This is one way to find IP addresses of servers or printers if you don’t know them by heart or they aren’t listed anywhere by your network administrator.
You can also telnet to devices to get a list of IP and MAC addresses connected to remote devices. This is helpful if you need the MAC address for a remote computer but it isn’t connected to your computer in any way.
By default, newer Windows versions don’t have telnet installed, but you can install it as an addon or install a third party telnet program to connect to your device. Telnet is a way to connect to a remote device and run commands on that device. For instance, if your router or switch supports telnet, you telnet to the IP address. When you connect to the remote device, you would then run the same arp command. If you are located on the remote machine through a program such as telnet, you can just type “arp –a” to get a list of the connected devices.
You can also use the ping command to then get the remote computer’s fully qualified domain name. Using the command line, you can type “ping –a” to get the full name of the remote computer. If you notice, you can build from knowing nothing of a remote computer to getting its MAC address, IP address and remote computer name. This is the advantage of using these small console applications available with each operating system.
If you want to delete or add arp addresses to a computer, the arp command also has a “d” and an “a” command line switch. These two switches are beneficial if you want to control the arp cache after you figure out the MAC address for a specific device. For instance, you might want to clear the arp cache for a printer or add it to a router.
To add or delete an arp entry, you simple type “arp –a” with the IP address or use “arp –d” to delete an entry.
The arp and ping commands are powerful diagnostic tools, and they are available in the Linux or Windows operating systems. You’ll need to know these commands to properly work with any network in the corporate world. They are more for simple diagnostics if you have a home network. When you support a large network, you’ll need these tools to find network devices, figure out their MAC addresses and determine if these devices are connected to the network. For instance, if you can’t ping an IP address, it could mean that the device’s network card isn’t working or it is just not powered on. This is very useful when you are located in one office and the remote machine is in another.
How to find an IP address when you have the MAC address of the device.
4 Steps total
Step 1: Open the command prompt
Click the Windows 'Start' button and select 'Run.' In the textbox, type 'cmd' and click the 'Ok' button. This opens a DOS prompt.
Step 2: Familiarize yourself with arp
Type 'arp' in the command prompt. This gives you a list of options to use with the arp command.
Step 3: List all MAC addresses
Type 'arp -a' in the command prompt. This lists a number of MAC addresses with the associated IP addresses. Since you have the MAC address, scroll down the list to find the associated IP address. The MAC address is shown in the 'Physical Address' column with the IP address in the 'Internet Address' column. An example of a table record is in Step 4.
Step 4: Evaluate results
The following is an example of ARP output. The first column is the IP address. The second column is the MAC address, and the third is the type of IP assigned--static or dynamic.
Internet address Physical Address Type
192.168.0.1 01-a3-56-b5-ff-22 static
References
- How to Use a MAC Address to Find an IP Address
16 Comments
- DatilKrizz Jan 21, 2013 at 10:36pm
You've forgotten about one little thing: arp keeps mac<>ip association of recently contacted peers, so it's quite often not to find the mac<>ip association we're looking for, of machine that exists in the network. Prior to using arp -a it's wise to ping the host first.
- HabaneroTwon of An Jan 21, 2013 at 11:24pm
Used in conjunction with ping (thanks Krizz), this is a good basic walk through. I can't go wrong with these steps!
- CayenneSyldra Jan 22, 2013 at 03:17pm
I'm sorry but... if the thing is to find the IP address from the MAC, how will you ping the host first ?
- SerranoEnzeder Jan 22, 2013 at 04:37pm
I thought the aim of this exercise was to FIND an IP address. Doesn't using PING imply you already know the IP (or hostname) which makes ARP redundant? How do you PING a MAC?
Assuming no IP or hostname info, I have used a portscanner (like LanSpy or Zenmap) to get MAC > IP info. Currently my preferred method if the device isn't listed in Spiceworks :-)
There was a time when I was a baby admin and I didn't want to raise alarms by installing a scanner that I wrote a batch file (yes, that long ago) that PINGed every IP on a subnet, then immediately ran ARP redirecting output to a text file. But that depends on the device in question being set to respond to PING requests.
- Pimientochristian.mcghee Dec 23, 2013 at 03:47am
This does not work for any host on the other side of a router. Any hosts on the other side of the router will show the routers MAC address.
- Serrano@Greg Mar 11, 2014 at 03:11pm
I realize this is an old topic, but someone like myself may be looking for an answer. I became admin of a network with little over 200 devices, which none of the cabling was mapped. I was told I was responsible for the cabling, so I began looking for a way other than toning out all the cables. I was fortunate to have Cisco switches and Windows Server 2008. I was able to use the Cisco Network Assistant to grab MAC addresses and the port number, then in DHCP on the Server 2008 I could find the MAC and corresponding IP. Furthermore I could also get the computer name from DHCP and correlate that to which user was on the machine using PDQ inventory to see who was logged in to the machine. Most of this of course depends on the devices being in use. I've been able to create an accurate map of about 90% of my network without touching the cables.
- Pimientochristopherblouch Jun 4, 2014 at 05:08pm
I am interested in this thread, hopefully someone can help. There are 4 types of arp message: arp request, arp reply, rarp request, rarp reply. So, that being said, is it possible to manually send a rarp request? Sort of a arp based ping?There is arping, but we need rarping... if it exists. Of course, I understand that I can't arp outside my default gateway, but if there is a rarp request, how is it used inside the local network? Thanks to whatever guru can explain what we're missing.
- SerranoMaxwell Brotherwood Jul 18, 2014 at 10:07am
Great for finding an IP if you have the MAC address.
My instance where I found this useful was after updating the firmware on a switch remotely via TFTP, the IP of the switch would change (making pinging redundant, obviously). Trying a network scan over Spiceworks or rescanning the single device would not update the IP and I needed an alternate way to find it.
This method worked perfectly. Thank you. Hopefully this helps those trying to understand the purpose of this practice and how it was in-fact useful.
- Pimientorobertrobinson2 Aug 4, 2014 at 04:30pm
I understand the issues in attempting to use a MAC address to locate a device from outside of its local network.
What puzzles me is how Honeywell Total Connect does this with their WiFi connected thermostats. The hardware configuration is: a Honeywell WiFi thermostat that is WiFi connected to a Netgear N600 router which uses DHCP to assign an IP adddress. The router is connected to Comcast with a Motorola SB6120 modem. Comcast assigns a system wide (dynamic) IP. There is no static IP.
On initial setup, a WiFi connection is first established between the thermostat and the router. The thermostat's MAC and CRC and a username and password are entered into the Total Connect software setup. It is then possible to read or set thermostat values using Total Connect Web pages.
I know how to do this with a static IP or a DNS service that automatically tracks changes in dynamic IP addresses.
Does anyone understand how this works with Total Connect? - TabascoJoe979 Sep 4, 2014 at 01:05pm
This post was extremely helpful, thanks itdownsouth :) I used show interface to find MAC addresses on our switches (reason for this is poor network documentation and mis-labeled switchports and wall jacks...). I took the MAC addresses that I could not locate the hosts or ip addresses for, ran arp -a to list the address<>mac list, then one by one, nbtstat -A for each IP address I matched a MAC to from the unlabeled ports. Tedious, but found 5 or 6 now (seeing hexadecimal thoughts now though...).
- TabascoJoe979 Sep 4, 2014 at 01:12pm
By the way, the reason this is working great for me is the lack of routers -- all switches, so if you have only one subnet like we do, this will do -- otherwise, you will probably need to login to the router or switch on the other side of the router to find MAC address tables on the other networks. You may not be able to see them all on the local host, as far as arp -a on the local host, but looking up the arp or hosts tables on switches and routers could be a possible solution for those with multiple subnets.
- JalapenoJay196 Oct 21, 2014 at 03:28pm
Use SuperScan to do a bulk ping of the entire network range. SuperScan 3 (I recommend) is a free tool by McAfee.
Then use arp -a | Find '5c-d9-98' to get for example all ping nodes with a manufacturer of Asus.
- DatilWealthyEmu Mar 25, 2015 at 07:55pm
There's also this:
http://www.advanced-ip-scanner.com/
It should be able to find most devices on the network. You can specify the range to scan and scan across subnets. I won't try to share all the features because quite frankly I don't know them all.
- Pimientoamiruli Jul 4, 2015 at 10:18am
If you want you can ping the broadcast address to ping everyone on the network then do arp -a
- Pimientochrisdahlkvist Nov 23, 2015 at 09:56am
@RobertRobinson I'm the lead designer and project manager on the Honeywell systems.
I can tell you exactly how I designed it. It's actually quite simple. Nothing is sent back to the unit. The unit is allowed access to the Internet via your setup and the router. As long as the unit has permission to make an outbound connection it will work. What happens is the unit makes a report to the server. If it needs to make a request then it gives the server a unique key. The server puts any needed data in an xml (readable) and the thermostat (or quite a few other devices) hits that URL a few seconds later (the device told the server where it would pick up that info).
All your device needs is a simple read-only connection to the outside world. No need to download anything.
It's a VERY simple process that I developed back in 1992 when the Interwebs were still pretty new to most people. There were many processes built off of this simple idea (it was pretty cutting edge when I first designed it). Store and forward, offline browsing, push technology, etc. all are based on this simple technology.Am I rich? Not even close. I was working on my PhD at the time and was hired by Honeywell to implement my design. I literally gave it away to the general public as is right.
I hope that clears it up for you. If not, feel free to contact me for more information.
Chris Dahlkvist
chris@usarf.org
Ping Ip For Mac Address
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