Definitely CHAR (or VARCHAR). If the format of a MAC address changes at all, you could be in real trouble. Also, if a MAC address can have a leading 0 (I don't know anything about MAC addresses), then storing it as some sort of number could lose that.
This is a general rule for me. A field might only contain numbers (at one particular point in time) but if those numbers are really nominal data (in which the size or order does not matter) then they should be CHAR or VARCHAR fields anyway. On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 8:26 AM, Ilia KATZ <ik...@dane-elec.co.il> wrote: > Hi. > Currently I have a table: > 1. MAC address defined as BIGINT > 2. MAC address set as primary key > > Should I consider changing it to CHAR(12)? > > Replies will be appreciated. > Ilia > > > > -- Jim Lyons Web developer / Database administrator http://www.weblyons.com
