Mac Address questions

[disturbed13]

im looking at locking down my routers and i came across the Mac address which is a machine specific address
so do i just need the addys of all of the pc's
or do i need the switches and routers as well?

here is a horrible paint diagram
from the web is the
modem > WRT150N (wireless N router)> WRT54G (Wireless G router)
Dell PC

N Bridge > 5 Port Gigabit Switch > Xbox 360

PC 1
​

PC 2
​

PC 3
​

and the misc wireless clients:
2 laptops
iPad
Kendle
PS3
PSP

so would i need the mac addy of everything?
or just the devices that need to connect to the web?

 

[~Darkseeker~]

are you talking about MAC filtering?

you would need the Physical/MAC address of anything that asks DHCP for an IP Address. Switches dont use DHCP and routers are exempt from MAC filtering.

 

[LukaszR1]

^^

Exactly what Dark said above. You only need to provide the MAC addresses of the devices that use DHCP or Static IP's for network communication. Routers and Switches don't have IP's mapped to the ports, unless you have some business grade switch or router from CISCO for example.

 

[disturbed13]

okay
so none of the network hardware with the exception of NICs
right?
thanks for the replies guys

 

[Indigo]

Keep in mind that MACs can be spoofed, so filtering based solely on MAC addresses isn't foolproof, fyi.

 

[LukaszR1]

Keep in mind that MACs can be spoofed, so filtering based solely on MAC addresses isn't foolproof, fyi.

Very true, but its still better security then the WEP or WAP passwords lol.

 

[disturbed13]

how can it be spoofed?
if your router only allows certain Mac Addresses then anything on the list wont be allowed to enter
fyi my router is password protected
can you explain that for me?
thanks