Every connected device around the world comes with a unique Media Access Control address, or a   MAC address.

A common task a network administrator may come across is being able to identify a network device's manufacturer when given only a MAC address.



Task

Interface with one (or numerous) APIs that exist on the internet and retrieve the device manufacturer based on a supplied MAC address.

A MAC address that does not return a valid result should return the String "N/A".   An error related to the network connectivity or the API should return a null result.

Many implementations on this page use http://api.macvendors.com/ which, as of 19th September 2021, is throttling requests. After only 2 calls, the following response is returned for all subsequent requests. If you are planning to use the same provider or going to run the examples on this page, consider building in a delay between two calls.

{"errors":{"detail":"Too Many Requests","message":"Please slow down your requests or upgrade your plan at https://macvendors.com"}}

// This code is based on the example 'Simple HTTP Client' included with
// the Boost documentation.
 
#include <boost/beast/core.hpp>
#include <boost/beast/http.hpp>
#include <boost/beast/version.hpp>
#include <boost/asio/connect.hpp>
#include <boost/asio/ip/tcp.hpp>
#include <iostream>
#include <string>
 
bool get_mac_vendor(const std::string& mac, std::string& vendor) {
    namespace beast = boost::beast;
    namespace http = beast::http;
    namespace net = boost::asio;
    using tcp = net::ip::tcp;
 
    net::io_context ioc;
    tcp::resolver resolver(ioc);
    const char* host = "api.macvendors.com";
 
    beast::tcp_stream stream(ioc);
    stream.connect(resolver.resolve(host, "http"));
 
    http::request<http::string_body> req{http::verb::get, "/" + mac, 10};
    req.set(http::field::host, host);
    req.set(http::field::user_agent, BOOST_BEAST_VERSION_STRING);
    http::write(stream, req);
 
    beast::flat_buffer buffer;
    http::response<http::string_body> res;
    http::read(stream, buffer, res);
 
    bool success = res.result() == http::status::ok;
    if (success)
        vendor = res.body();
 
    beast::error_code ec;
    stream.socket().shutdown(tcp::socket::shutdown_both, ec);
    if (ec && ec != beast::errc::not_connected)
        throw beast::system_error{ec};
 
    return success;
}
 
int main(int argc, char** argv) {
    if (argc != 2 || strlen(argv[1]) == 0) {
        std::cerr << "usage: " << argv[0] << " MAC-address\n";
        return EXIT_FAILURE;
    }
    try {
        std::string vendor;
        if (get_mac_vendor(argv[1], vendor)) {
            std::cout << vendor << '\n';
            return EXIT_SUCCESS;
        } else {
            std::cout << "N/A\n";
        }
    } catch(std::exception const& e) {
        std::cerr << "Error: " << e.what() << std::endl;
    }
    return EXIT_FAILURE;
}