checkNodeStatusData();
        return isPermanent;
    }

/** 
 * Retrieves the MAC address of the remote network interface. Samba returns all zeros.
 *
 * @return the MAC address as an array of six bytes
 * @throws UnknownHostException if the host cannot be resolved to
 * determine the MAC address.
 */ 

    public byte[] getMacAddress() throws UnknownHostException {
        checkNodeStatusData();

 * JMORRIS2        <03>  UNIQUE      Registered
 * JMORRIS2        <20>  UNIQUE      Registered
 * BILLING-NY      <1E>  GROUP       Registered
 * JMORRIS         <03>  UNIQUE      Registered
 * 
 * MAC Address = 00-B0-34-21-FA-3B
 * </pre>
 * 
 * </blockquote>
 * <p>
 * The hostname of this machine is <code>JMORRIS2</code>. It is
 * a member of the group(a.k.a workgroup and domain) <code>BILLING-NY</code>. To