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Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)
While communicating, a host needs Layer-2 (MAC) address of the destination
machine which belongs to the same broadcast domain or network. A MAC address is
physically burnt into the Network Interface Card (NIC) of a machine and it never
changes.
On the other hand, IP address on the public domain is rarely changed. If the NIC is
changed in case of some fault, the MAC address also changes. This way, for Layer-2
communication to take place, a mapping between the two is required.
IP 1.4/1.1 IP 2.2.2.2
MAC a:a tara MAC b:bib bib
ARP Request
for 4.4.4.4
ARP. aS
dd:did:d:d
IP 3.3.3.3 qi To know the MAC addrass of remote host on a broadcast domain, a computer wishing
to initiate communication sends out an ARP broadcast message asking, "Who has this,
IP address?” Because it is a broadcast, all hosts on the network segment (broadcast
domain) receive this packet and process it. ARP packet contains the IP address of
destination host, the sending host wishes to talk to. When 2 host receives an ARP
packet destined to it, it replies back with its own MAC address.
‘Once the host gets destination MAC address, it can communicate with remote host,
using Layer-2 link protocol. This MAC to IP mapping is saved into ARP cache of both
sending and receiving hosts. Next time, if they require to communicate, they can
directly refer to their respective ARP cache.
Reverse ARP is a mechanism where host knows the MAC address of remote host but
requires to know IP address to communicate.
