Media Access Control (MAC)

The term media refers to the cabling used for transmitting data from one Node to another. Example of media in LAN are coaxial cabling, twisted pair cabling and fiber optic cabling.

MAC methods are ways to allow computers to transmit signals over network cabling while ensuring that only one computer transmit at a time. If two computers simultaneously place signal on the wire, a collision can occur and data might be corrupted unless a method is used to resolve the collision gracefully.

Some main media access control method is used in networking are below:

a) Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) used in Ethernet networking.

b)Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA/CA) used in apple talk networking.

c) Token passing is used in token ring and fiber distributed data interface networking.