what data-type to use to store MAC addresses in an SQL Server database table?

Question

I want to store MAC addresses in one of my database tables, what data-type should I use? Reading articles on google, I have seen Binary(8) mentioned a few times. Is this the correct way?

Also, this does not make sense to me, as MAC addresses are six groups of two hexadecimal digits, wouldn't you use Binary(6)?

Answer 1

I wouldn't use Binary at all.

I would use CHAR(12).

Though this really depends on what you use the data for - if this is for display only, you can simply use the textual representation.

Answer 2

For easier performaing binary operations you can store them into Binary(6) You can use the following built in function to view the Hex readable value of the binary data:

select top 10 master.sys.fn_varbintohexstr(mac) from macaddresses

and to convert the hexadecimal text into binary:

select CONVERT(binary(6), 'AABBCCDDEEFF', 2);

Answer 3

MAC address is a sequence of 6 hexadecimal numbers. That's why it would be efficient to store it as a number. Use BIGINT.