Microsoft getmac and MAC Address (Flashback)

When troubleshooting it is quite common to get the mac address of the host, server or network equipment for a variety of reasons.

For example, many syslog messages or logs may refer to mac addresses depending on what the error is. If you are working from the switch, you more than likely need to know the mac address if you need to figure out which port the target is for your monitor or span command. And of course if you are using a protocol analyzer, you should always capture with a mac address, when possible.

In this video I review how most people figure out their mac address and how to determine the mac address of another device on the same vlan as you. The issue with this methodology is that in some scenarios you may want to figure out the mac address of a Microsoft device that is on another VLAN.

Using Microsoft’s getmac command allows you to get your mac address as well as a remote system’s mac address. As I mention in the video, this command seems to be using the DCE/RPC protocol, so if you block this protocol on your host, servers, or network you might have an issue with command.

Lastly, you need to know the user name/password on the remote system for this to work remotely.

Hope this helps you with your troubleshooting.