# MAC Address - Website Question. **URL:** \ **Category:** Chatting over the Back Fence\ **Created:** [June 14, 2012, 11:03am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/mac-address-website-question/22745 "2012-06-14T11:03:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![System1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/51bf81/32.png) [@System1](https://forums.suse.com/u/System1)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 11:03am UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/mac-address-website-question/22745/1 "2012-06-14T11:03:18Z")
Is it possible to record the MAC address when a user accesses a website? ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 12:23pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/mac-address-website-question/22745/2 "2012-06-14T12:23:16Z")
Arthur,[color=blue] > Is it possible to record the MAC address when a user accesses a website?[/color] Of the user? It depends. The firewall usually has no knowledge of the user’s MAC, unless you have a workstation helper to record it. That is what ClientTrust does on BorderManager. – Anders Gustafsson (NKP) The Aaland Islands (N60 E20) Have an idea for a product enhancement? Please visit: [http://www.novell.com/rms](http://www.novell.com/rms) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/mac-address-website-question/22745/3 "2012-06-14T12:53:58Z")
Thanks for your fast response. It is not a work related website. It will be hosted in a commercial datacentre and I was wondering about preventing users from abusing the site. If someone creates an account and does not obey the site rules then I could disable the account. But they could just create a new account and do the same again.So I was thinking if I could gather the MAC address when they access the site or create their account perhaps I could prevent them from creating an second account. Thanks for any suggestions. “Anders Gustafsson” [AndersG@no-mx.forums.novell.com](mailto:AndersG@no-mx.forums.novell.com) wrote in message [news:VA.00004b5b.00b1bfc8@no-mx.forums.novell.com](mailto:news:VA.00004b5b.00b1bfc8@no-mx.forums.novell.com)…[color=blue] > Arthur,[color=green] > > > Is it possible to record the MAC address when a user accesses a website?[/color] > > Of the user? It depends. The firewall usually has no knowledge of the > user’s MAC, unless you have a workstation helper to record it. That is > what ClientTrust does on BorderManager. > > – > Anders Gustafsson (NKP) > The Aaland Islands (N60 E20) > > Have an idea for a product enhancement? Please visit: > [http://www.novell.com/rms](http://www.novell.com/rms) > [/color] ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 1:55pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/mac-address-website-question/22745/4 "2012-06-14T13:55:09Z")
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Not really, no. Watch a LAN trace of your packets as they move across the Internet and you’ll see that the MAC changes at every hope (router) because while IP addresses (at layer three) are how we think of the targets (if we do not think of DNS names at layer seven) the MAC addresses are used to move data from one router to another (layer two) and so the data are repackaged at every hope along the way. In other words, if you block a MAC address at all it’s going to be everything from your router, and you will not like that. 😉 Require users to authenticate to do anything and then block their username, unless you go with something like what Anders mentions. Good luck. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.18 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - [http://enigmail.mozdev.org/](http://enigmail.mozdev.org/) iQIcBAEBAgAGBQJP2cMMAAoJEF+XTK08PnB5muAQAKc0fclaEaiB9GtB4IIjcTHe G/RELHd64GId2L4jiWrBR5dFtxxx1NL2Ju0e1qQXEj5v1NYS1MsFZnCDs2RW+gai R2++LLYojbtYt8EFI6YA8BvzH1m6Ek32TllRqpLHGFtJXS1FWBmtu6QAPIcEVXV/ GEenknuqk2xgWTqMaAhvkQJH97MdmsZZKgFp0wUic9JEi817TEKvkGzYvEC6HHqM t8SFdXkgk6ppxfQaP8INxiTMaFvDl4t6A+9ozFaFG517q3GH27hY5uPt4HCVTg20 VvNsXeFgI1rs1R7Ubd5Y8eSByOWK4RTDtsuKr9lh8WeczIYWnllq6PW6UHBbYLpn MVMbKHksYW6yt7kaoUp5sZQuUmn7T62LkVpKRuXQcCAgp5PYtQMHpUHbAWoQrM4/ Q1QZqXt79nnkbf5T5luysOAKfVHiuMp3wNiXeYa3MmZktmhuV2zXpYQA8zL0lOKm rLOENZIvKGp7YiLaT7rb0amqggNjdRbHOoX4fsNerkB2kH5lF2LgUrf/vqUY2juO G52aZrUs7T5GLdFLocigAMzIZC1rLeywaSbEU31XxF0C/4pRSTQCPmIeBSuyk6Mt 2qcNER1+Ako+jX4474P3QPDwv35hr7tKLuX8ItFYeqqYUic3wGeMBGVk66cdy6N3 3ZNPtSpPYoVWBmccSUMj =oMsG -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/mac-address-website-question/22745/5 "2012-06-14T19:02:35Z")
On Thu, 14 Jun 2012 10:55:09 +0000, ab wrote: [color=blue] > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > Not really, no. Watch a LAN trace of your packets as they move across > the Internet and you’ll see that the MAC changes at every hope (router) > because while IP addresses (at layer three) are how we think of the > targets (if we do not think of DNS names at layer seven) the MAC > addresses are used to move data from one router to another (layer two) > and so the data are repackaged at every hope along the way. In other > words, if you block a MAC address at all it’s going to be everything > from your router, and you will not like that. 😉 > > Require users to authenticate to do anything and then block their > username, unless you go with something like what Anders mentions. > > Good luck.[/color] So what you are saying? They hope to hop or they hop with hope? ---
**Author:** ![kgroneman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f1d935/32.png) [@kgroneman](https://forums.suse.com/u/kgroneman)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 7:04pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/mac-address-website-question/22745/6 "2012-06-14T19:04:08Z")
If you have a system where it’s required to have unique, validated email addresses it isn’t ideal, but it’s better than relying on user names. User names are a dime a dozen…er…a billion. Validated, email addresses are somewhat harder to come up with. Block an email address and it at least makes the user have to go find another valid one. IP addresses only work if they’re static. Here in the forums when we come across spammers we can block by userID, email address, IP address, or domain (which we don’t usually want to do for obvious reasons). – Kim - 6/14/2012 9:59:08 AM ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2012, 9:46pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/mac-address-website-question/22745/7 "2012-06-14T21:46:17Z")
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Yeah, um… I have no idea how I typo’d that so consistently. Lame… Good luck. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2.0.18 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - [http://enigmail.mozdev.org/](http://enigmail.mozdev.org/) iQIcBAEBAgAGBQJP2jF5AAoJEF+XTK08PnB5IXUQAL88u7aJ2yaxmxDc6bWIY/mA cp9ixDhVdvkmC5K2wimOMK2KfdSWT5JKE5qfPjk3S/o2IieODli3jwAb4UPMPmcL WAf0R3u7SJwhzspx1zHViXgwXUPofSn8BuJx95vFHGT/blEudxOPDUxKwZ62KO4o tIFbDNlokiJoF7SImu+b9VXQfXDOc6GK6RDRv+M/cUZgVfCOhVJeeDZ9jTngrXMw pubr36iBPUBdYbnqcmrovKi56+wX4SqpGw9p2PBK7GZQm3tmItS1uNn8KIgB78Nj AsjN1t/oIxI9AM0zXxhwyQOOaBPYR7b5QqLBOhFFlWvxaEQbYjd12y/GEpwonmOw CTq7ykNTvbg0p85hmegMVlBSpOsgqPcDcUQBQpL/2ZBQoPf/AxwfNkWnGIh+tMfD tnP3M1J2jOUp8n0PXoU3CHYWKSBtgjhNOX/QZ4GfpBMrIXP4vhRxMV6EwmIeAP1i lfT1GrutFjxNToKUoeyqHWuddF8cBwy4Xi8U0HAMIAAIIVny1Cn8/A3Z6RxpTd7o WYsGvmly66VySy/XJKQuTrH5s1O6zCRvIdsmjB4AiR1n8el1kpPFMbSZ6za23km4 I+uj2FgwC8KlH14G+JFQYtRBbVNza2AiyHM43+lVyLEWVndz9rhpVZOSkBtQJRQE SBnhAZrs0INGSHDNUrxG =M2Ef -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2012, 12:58pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/mac-address-website-question/22745/8 "2012-06-15T12:58:01Z")
On 14/06/2012 17:02, Bob Crandell wrote: [color=blue] > So what you are saying? They hope to hop or they hop with hope?[/color] He said a hip hop the hippie the hippie to the hip hip hop, a you dont stop the rock it to the bang bang boogie say up jumped the boogie to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKTUAESacQM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKTUAESacQM) ## 😉 Simon Novell/SUSE/NetIQ Knowledge Partner * * * ## Do you work with Novell technologies at a university, college or school? If so, your campus could benefit from joining the Novell Technology Transfer Partner (TTP) program. See [novell.com/ttp](http://novell.com/ttp) for more details. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/uploads/suse/original/2X/5/5012ba89e3ffb5220dac47d5ea0ba032e2fe1cb6.png) [@system](https://forums.suse.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://forums.suse.com/t/mac-address-website-question/22745/9 "2012-06-15T15:23:49Z")
And THAT’S what it’s all about. On 6/15/2012 5:58 AM, Simon Flood wrote:[color=blue] > On 14/06/2012 17:02, Bob Crandell wrote: > [color=green] > > > So what you are saying? They hope to hop or they hop with hope?[/color] > > He said a hip hop the hippie the hippie to the hip hip hop, a you dont > stop the rock it to the bang bang boogie say up jumped the boogie to the > rhythm of the boogie, the beat > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKTUAESacQM](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKTUAESacQM) > > ;-)[/color]