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How ARP Protocol Work.

The document discusses how the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) works to dynamically discover the MAC address of a device on a local network given its IP address. ARP works by broadcasting a request to the local network, with the target device responding directly with its MAC address, which is then cached for future communication encapsulated in Ethernet frames.

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22 views6 pages

How ARP Protocol Work.

The document discusses how the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) works to dynamically discover the MAC address of a device on a local network given its IP address. ARP works by broadcasting a request to the local network, with the target device responding directly with its MAC address, which is then cached for future communication encapsulated in Ethernet frames.

Uploaded by

lotfyreda60
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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How ARP Protocol Work

The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is


used to dynamically discover the Mac address
of a device on a local network given its IP
address.

The mechanism of how ARP works:


1: ARP Request
When a device ( Host A) wants to send data
to another device (Host B) within the same
subnet, it first checks if it knows Host B's
MAC address. If not, Host A sends out an
ARP broadcast packet to all devices on the
local network. This broadcast contains:
- Sender's MAC address (Host A's MAC)
- Sender's IP address (Host A's IP)
- Target IP address (Host B's IP)
- Target MAC address (this field is initially
empty)

2. ARP Reply: Upon receiving the ARP


request, the device with IP address
matching the Target IP (Host B) responds
with an ARP reply packet directly to Host A.
This reply contains:
- Sender's MAC address (Host B's MAC)
- Sender's IP address (Host B's IP)
- Target IP address (Host A's IP)
- Target MAC address (Host A's MAC).
Then ARP Cache will be updated: when
receiving the ARP reply, Host A updates its
ARP cache (ARP table) with the MAC
address of Host B. This cache is used to map
IP addresses to MAC addresses for future
communication.
Subsequent Communication: the MAC
address of Host B known, so host A can now
encapsulate the IP packet within an
Ethernet frame using Host B's MAC address
as the destination. This allows the data to
be sent directly to Host B on the local
network.
Notes:
* ARP operates at Layer 2 (Data Link
layer) of the OSI model.
*It is essential for communication within
the same subnet where IP addresses are
used.
*ARP requests are broadcast messages,
while ARP replies are unicast messages.
*In an ARP request, the IP address of the
target (the device that needs to be
identified) is used, while the MAC
address field of the target is filled with
the value "FF:FF:FF:FF:FF" (Broadcast).
This means the request will be sent to all
devices on the local network, as the
target device's MAC address is
unknown. The sender is any device that
holds the target IP address

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