Chapter 7

ARP and RARP

Outline
o ARP

o ARP Package

o RARP

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Logical Addresses
o The hosts and routers are recognized at the
network level by their logical addresses
n A logical address is an internet address
n Called a logical address because it is usually
implemented in software
n The logical addresses in the TCP/IP are called IP
address and are 32 bits long
Physical Address
o However, hosts/routers are recognized at the
physical layer by their physical address
n A physical address is an local address

n Called a physical address because it is usually

implemented in hardware

n Examples
o 48-bit MAC addresses in Ethernet
Translation
o We need both the physical address and the
logical address for packet delivery
o Thus, we need to be able to map a logical
address to its corresponding physical address
and vice versa
o Solutions
n Static mapping
n Dynamic mapping
Static Mapping
o Create a table that associates a logical address with a
physical address and store in each machine
o However, physical addresses may change
n A machine could change its NIC resulting in a new
physical address
n In some LANs, such as LocalTalk, the physical address
changes every time the computer is turned on
n A mobile station can move from one physical network to
another, resulting in a change in its physical address
Dynamic Mapping
o Use a protocol to find another address

o ARP: Address Resolution Protocol

n Map a logical address to a physical address

o RARP: Reverse Address Resolution Protocol

n Map a physical address to a logical address
Figure 7-1

ARP and RARP

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Figure 7-2

Position of ARP and RARP

in TCP/IP Protocol Suite

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7.1

ARP

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ARP Operation
o To find the physical address of another host or
router on its network
n Send an ARP request message
o ARP request message
n The physical address of the sender
n The IP address of the sender
n The physical address of the receiver is 0s
n The IP address of the receiver
ARP Operation (Cont.)
o Then, ARP request message is broadcast by
the physical layer
n For example: in Ethernet, MAC header’s
destination address is all 1s (broadcast address)
n Received by every station on the physical
network
o The intended recipient send back an ARP
reply message
n ARP reply message packet is unicast
Figure 7-3

ARP Operation

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Figure 7-4

ARP Packet

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Packet Format
o HTYPE (Hardware type)
n 16-bit field defining the underlying type of the
network
o Ethernet is given the type 1
o ARP can be used on any physical network
o PTYPE (Protocol type)
n 16-bit field defining the protocol
o IPv4 is 080016
o ARP can be used with any higher-level protocol
Packet Format (Cont.)
o HLEN (Hardware length)
n 8-bit field defining the length of the physical address in
bytes
o Ethernet has the value of 6
o PLEN (Protocol length)
n 8-bit field defining the length of the logical address in
bytes
o IPv4 has the value of 4
o OPER (Operation)
n 16-bit field defining the type of packet
n (1) = ARP request, (2) = ARP reply
Packet Format (Cont.)
o SHA (Sender hardware address)
n A variable-length field defining the physical
address of the sender

o SPA (Sender protocol address)

n A variable-length field defining the logical
address of the sender
Packet Format (Cont.)
o THA (Target hardware address)
n A variable-length field defining the physical
address of the target
n For an ARP request operation packet
o This field is all 0s
o TPA (Target protocol address)
n A variable-length field defining the logical
address of the target
Figure 7-5

Encapsulation of ARP Packet

o An ARP packet is encapsulated directly into a

data link frame
o Type field indicates that the data carried by
the frame is an ARP packet
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Operations
o The sender knows the target’s IP address
o IP asks ARP to create an ARP request message
n The sender physical address
n The sender IP address
n The target physical address field is filled with 0s
n The target IP address
o The message is passed to the data link layer to
encapsulate in a data link frame
n Physical destination address is broadcast address
Operations (Cont.)
o Every host or routers receives the frame and since
the destination address is broadcast, pass it to the
ARP
n All machines’ ARP except the one targeted drop the
packet
o The target reply with an ARP reply message that
contains its physical address and is unicast
o The sender receives the reply message and knows
the target’s physical address
Four Cases to Use ARP
o Case 1: The sender is a host and wants to send a
packet to another host on the same network
n Use ARP to find another host’s physical address
o Case 2: The sender is a host and wants to send a
packet to another host on another network
n Sender looks at its routing table
n Find the IP address of the next hop (router) for this
destination
n Use ARP to find the router’s physical address
Figure 7-6:a

Four Cases Using ARP: Case 1

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Figure 7-6:b

Four Cases Using ARP: Case 2

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Four Cases to Use ARP (Cont.)
o Case 3: the sender is a router and received a datagram
destined for a host on another network
n Router check its routing table
n Find the IP address of the next router
n Use ARP to find the next router’s physical address
o Case 4: the sender is a router that has received a
datagram destined for a host in the same network
n Use ARP to find this host’s physical address
Figure 7-6:c

Four Cases Using ARP: Case 3

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Figure 7-6:d

Four Cases Using ARP: Case 4

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An ARP request is broadcast;
an ARP reply is unicast.

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Example 1

o A host with IP address 130.23.43.20 and

physical address 0xB23455102210
o Another host with IP address 130.23.43.25
and physical address 0xA46EF45983AB.
o The two hosts are on the same Ethernet
network
o Show the ARP request and reply packets
encapsulated in Ethernet frames
Solution

o Figure 7.7 shows the ARP request and reply

packets
o Note that
n The IP addresses are shown in hexadecimal
Figure 7-7: request

Example 1

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Figure 7-7: reply

Example 1 (Continued)

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Proxy ARP
o Used to create a subnetting effect
o A router running a proxy ARP
n Its ARP acts on behalf of a set of hosts
n If it receives an ARP request message looking for
the address of one of these host
o The router sends an ARP reply announcing its own
hardware (physical) address
n After the router receives the actual IP packet
o It sends the packet to the appropriate host or router
Example
o Administrator need to create a subnet without
changing the whole system

o Add a router running a proxy ARP

Figure 7-8

Proxy ARP

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7.2
ARP
PACKAGE

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ARP Package
o Five components in an ARP package
n A cache table
n Queues
n An output module
n An input module
n A cache-control module
Figure 7-9

ARP Components

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Cache Table
o Inefficient to use ARP to each datagram
destined for the same host or router
n Introduce the cache table

o Cache table: an array of entries that contains

the following’s entries
Content of a Cache Table Entry
o State:
n FREE: the time-to-live for this entry has expired
n PENDING: a request for this entry has been sent, but the
reply has not yet been received
n RESOLVED: the entry is complete and valid
o Hardware type
o Protocol type
o Hardware length
o Protocol length
n Above fields are all the same as in the ARP packet
Content of a Cache Table Entry (Cont.)
o Interface number
o Queue number: ARP uses numbered queues to
enqueue the packet waiting for address resolution
o Attempts: the number of times an ARP request is
sent out for this entry
o Time-out: the lifetime of an entry in seconds
o Hardware address: the destination hardware address
o Protocol address: the destination IP address
Queues
o ARP package maintains a set of queues to hold the
IP packets while ARP tries to resolve the hardware
address
o Packets for the same destination are usually
enqueued in the same queue
o The output module sends unsolved packets into the
queue
o The input module removes a packet from the queue
and sends it, with the resolved physical address, to
data link layer for transmission
Output Module
o Wait until an IP packet from the IP software
o Check the cache table if receiving a IP packet
n If found and state = RESOLVED
o Passed to the data link layer for transmission
n If found and state = PENDING
o Send packet to this queue and wait
n If not found
o Create an entry with state = PENDING
o Create a queue and enqueue this packet
o Send an ARP request
Input Module
o Wait until an ARP packet (request or reply)
arrives and check the cache table
n If found state = PENDING
o Copy the target hardware address in the packet
o Change the state to RESOLVED
o Set the value of TIME-OUT for this entry
o Dequeue the packets from the corresponding queue
and set them to the data link layer
Input Module (Cont.)
n If found and state = RESOLVED
o Copy the target hardware address in the packet
o Set the value of TIME-OUT for this entry
o This is because the target hardware address could
have been changed
n If not found
o Create a new entry and adds it to the table
o If the packet is a request
n Send an ARP reply
Cache-Control Module
o Maintain the cache table by periodically
check the cache table, entry by entry
o If state is PENDING
n Increment the value of attempts by 1
n If (attempts greater than maximum)
o Change the state to FREE and Destroy the
corresponding queue
n Else
o Send an ARP request
Cache-Control Module (Cont.)
o If state is RESOLVED
n Decrement the value of time-out by the value of
elapsed time
n If (time-out <= 0)
o Change the state to FREE
o Destroy the corresponding queue
o If state is FREE
n Continue to the next entry
 Original Cache Table
State Queue Attempt Time-out Protocol Addr. Hardware Addr.
R 5 900 180.3.6.1 ACAE32457342
P 2 2 129.34.4.8
P 14 5 201.11.56.7
R 8 450 114.5.7.89 457342ACAE32
P 12 1 220.55.5.7
F
R 9 60 19.1.7.82 4573E3242ACA
P 18 3 188.11.8.71
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Example 2

o The ARP output module receives an IP

datagram from the IP layer with the
destination address 114.5.7.89
o It checks the cache table and finds that an
entry exists for this destination with the
RESOLVED state
o It extracts the hardware address, which is
457342ACAE32, and sends the packet and
the address to the data link layer
Example 3

o Twenty seconds later, the ARP output module

receives an IP datagram from the IP layer with the
destination address 116.1.7.22.
o It checks the cache table and does not find this
destination in the table
o The module adds an entry to the table with the state
PENDING and the Attempt value 1
o It also creates a new queue for this destination and
enqueues the packet
o It then sends an ARP request to the data link layer
for this destination
 Cache table for Example 3
State Queue Attempt Time-out Protocol Addr. Hardware Addr.
R 5 900 180.3.6.1 ACAE32457342
P 2 2 129.34.4.8
P 14 5 201.11.56.7
R 8 450 114.5.7.89 457342ACAE32
P 12 1 220.55.5.7
P 23 1 116.1.7.22
R 9 60 19.1.7.82 4573E3242ACA
P 18 3 188.11.8.71

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Example 4

o Fifteen seconds later, the ARP input module receives

an ARP packet with target protocol (IP) address
188.11.8.71
o The module checks the table and finds this address
o It changes the state of the entry to RESOLVED and
sets the time-out value to 900
o The module then adds the target hardware address
(E34573242ACA) to the entry
o Now it accesses queue 18 and sends all the packets in
this queue, one by one, to the data link layer
 Cache table for Example 4
State Queue Attempt Time-out Protocol Addr. Hardware Addr.
R 5 900 180.3.6.1 ACAE32457342
P 2 2 129.34.4.8
P 14 5 201.11.56.7
R 8 450 114.5.7.89 457342ACAE32
P 12 1 220.55.5.7
P 23 1 116.1.7.22
R 9 60 19.1.7.82 4573E3242ACA
R 18 900 188.11.8.71 E34573242ACA

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Example 5

o Twenty-five seconds later, the cache-control

module wakes up
o The time-out values for the first three resolved
entries are decremented by 60
o The time-out value for the last resolved entry
is decremented by 25
o The state of the next-to-the last entry is
changed to FREE because the time-out is zero
Example 5 (Cont.)

o For each of the three pending entries, the

value of the attempts field is incremented by
one
o Then, the attempts value for one entry (the
one with IP protocol address 201.11.56.7) is
more than the maximum
n the state is changed to FREE, the queue is deleted
n An ICMP message is sent to the original
destination
 Cache Table for Example 5
State Queue Attempt Time-out Protocol Addr. Hardware Addr.
R 5 840 180.3.6.1 ACAE32457342
P 2 3 129.34.4.8
F
R 8 390 114.5.7.89 457342ACAE32
P 12 2 220.55.5.7
P 23 2 116.1.7.22
F
R 18 875 188.11.8.71 E34573242ACA
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7.3

RARP

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RARP
o A diskless machine is usually booted from
ROM
o It cannot include the IP address
n IP address are assigned by the network
administrator
o Obtain its logical address by the physical
address using the RARP protocol
Figure 7-10

RARP Operation

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The RARP request packets are
broadcast;
the RARP reply packets are
unicast.

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Packet Format
o The format of the RARP packet is the same as
the ARP packet
o Except that the operation field is
n Three for RARP request message
n Four for RARP reply message
Figure 7-11

RARP Packet

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Figure 7-12

Encapsulation of RARP Packet

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Alternative Solutions to RARP
o When a diskless computer is booted, it needs
more information in addition to its IP address
n The subnet mask
n The IP address of a router
n The IP address of a name server
o RARP cannot provide this extra information
o Two protocols, BOOTP and DHCP, can be
used instead of RARP