MAC and IP address uniqueness

[emeitner]

MAC addresses by definition are unique. There should not be another machine with the same MAC address. But AT allows for duplicate MACs.

It IS possible for two machines to have the same IP address. For example: two servers at two branch offices that are behind NAT firewalls can have the same private IP of 192.168.1.10. AT does not allow for duplicate IPs.

Also on operating systems like Linux an IP address and an interface name can be moved between physical interfaces(identified by MAC address). It may be best to make MAC Address a field by itself. Then maybe tie in interface name, IP, and ports to a MAC address record.