ARP

ARP definition - computer

(Address Resolution Protocol) A TCP/IP protocol used to obtain a node's physical address. A client station broadcasts an ARP request onto the network with the IP address of the target node it wishes to communicate with, and the node with that address responds by sending back its physical address so that packets can be transmitted. ARP returns the layer 2 address for a layer 3 address.

Since an ARP gets the message to the target machine, one might wonder why bother with IP addresses in the first place. The reason is that ARP requests are broadcast onto the network, requiring every station in the subnet to process the request. See RARP.


TCP3TO2.GIF


ARP'ing

The IP protocol broadcasts the IP address of the destination station onto the network, and the node with that address responds.






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