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Comments on Unique identifier for a computing system

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Unique identifier for a computing system [closed]

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Closed as unclear by Canina‭ on Dec 18, 2021 at 10:04

This question cannot be answered in its current form, because critical information is missing.

This question was closed; new answers can no longer be added. Users with the reopen privilege may vote to reopen this question if it has been improved or closed incorrectly.

If IP address is a unique identifier of a computing device in a network (LAN and/or WAN) and MAC is a unique identifier for a network card and/or modem, what would be a unique identifier for a computing device in and of itself (used by software installed on that computing device to refer to the computing device itself)?

It might be a mainboard unique identifier, it might be an operating system installment unique identifier, both or one string for both; what is the terminology to use here?

terminology
posted almost 3 years ago
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3 comment threads

What do you want to achieve? (1 comment)
IPs and MACs are not unique, nor persistent, nor necessarily available, identifiers (2 comments)
How do you define a "computing system"? (1 comment)
How do you define a "computing system"?
Canina‭ wrote almost 3 years ago · edited almost 3 years ago
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If I replace the motherboard but leave everything else (CPU, RAM, storage, OS installation, ...) untouched, is that the same "computing system" or a different one?

Similarly, if I boot the exact same computer into first one, then another (different) read-only live OS, does that constitute one or two "computing systems"?

And so on.

I'm pretty sure there are plenty of ways to talk about some identifier, but things do get a fair bit more complex when you want to talk about a single identifier for something that has many independently replaceable parts.