Ethernet, ARP, RARP

Ethernet (LAN)
Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)
Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP)

1 OPM
 Eathernet LAN
 Developed by Metcalfe's (Xerox company got patent)
 MAC address (48 bits) is used as address of a device.
 CSMA/CD is used for multiple access.
 Packet size is variable (payload varies from 46 to 1500 octet)

 Pure Ethernet is no more in use, at present combination of

Ethernet and Internet is used in LAN.

 Ethernet can be setup using Coaxial cables or Twisted Wire

cables (RJ 45 cat 5 and cat 6 cables)

2 OPM
 Ethernet frame format

 Preamble field consists of 64 bits alternating ‘0’ and ‘1’ to help receiving
interface to synchronize.

 48 bits MAC/Hardware/Physical/Ethernet address unique throughout the world

for a devise.
 MAC address 0xFFFFFFFFFFFF is used to broadcast a packet in the network.
 Some software can generate duplicate MAC address also (generally used by hackers)

 16 bits Frame Type Field is used to identify the type of data being carried in a
frame. It determine which protocol software module should process the frame.

 Packet size is variable (payload varies from 46 to 1500 octet in case of IPv4)
 32 bits CRC field helps to detect error in the frame.
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  Internet devices
 Host devices- Computer, Laptop, PDA, IP telephone etc.
 Hub, Switch, Router, Repeaters, Bridge, Gateway, Server

 IP allocation Techniques
 Static IP allocation
 comparatively secure but not efficient in case of limited IP addresses

 Dynamic IP allocation (DHCP)
 more efficient but less secure,
 can be secured by allocating user login & password to authenticate users

4 OPM
 Internet devices (Cont.)
 Hub:-
 connects PCs together,
 Works as multi-port repeater , simply passes on (repeats) all the
information it receives
 broadcasts incoming packets from a port to other ports of the Hub.
 Can not process packets.
 generates unnecessary traffic in network due to broadcasting of
packets through undesired ports (not part of destination link) .
 Hub can be used in a small network but for a larger, heavily
used network a another network device (switch) may be used to
reduce the amount of unnecessary traffic being generated.

5 OPM
 Internet devices (Cont.)
 Switch:-
 Switch has capability to process received packet and identify
the destination port based on destination address in header of
the packet.
 It forwards the received packets to respective destination ports
only
 Thus it doesn’t generate unnecessary traffic in network
 This allows simultaneous communication across the switch,
improving bandwidth.
 Switch is preferred over Hub to extend a network.

6 OPM
 ARP and RARP

Objectives

• Understand the need for ARP

• Understand the cases in which ARP is used
• Understand the components and interactions in an ARP package
• Understand the need for RARP

7 OPM
 ARP and RARP
 ARP
 ARP provides a dynamic mapping from an IP address to the
corresponding hardware (MAC) address.
 We use the term dynamic since it happens or updates
automatically after certain period of time and is normally not a
concern of either the application user or the system
administrator.

 RARP (Reverse Address Resolution Protocol)

 RARP is used by systems without a disk drive but requires
manual configuration (in ROM) by the system administrator to
send bootstrap message.
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9 OPM
10 OPM
 ARP and RARP

11 OPM
 Position of ARP and RARP in TCP/IP protocol suite

Notice that ARP and RARP are supplemental to IP.

12 OPM
 ARP operation

13 OPM
 ARP packet (IP PDU)

Hardware Type - Ethernet

is type 1, field length= 16
bits

Protocol Type- IPv4= x0800,

field length= 16 bits

Hardware Length: Hardware

Address length (6 byte), field
length= 8 bits

Protocol Length: length of

IPv4 address (4 byte), field
length= 8 bits

Operation: Request 1, Reply

2, field length= 16 bits

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 Encapsulation of ARP packet (IP PDU)

The ARP packet is encapsulated within an Ethernet packet.

Note: Type field for ARP is x0806

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 Four cases using ARP

16 OPM
 Example 1

A host with IP address [Link] and physical address

[Link] has a packet to send to another host with IP
address [Link] and physical address [Link]
(which is unknown to the first host). The two hosts are on the
same Ethernet network. Show the ARP request and reply packets
encapsulated in Ethernet frames.

See Next Slide

17 OPM
Network topology:- when two computers connected directly or through Hub in same network
 Example 1 (Continued)

Solution
the ARP request and reply packets. Note that the ARP data field
in this case is 28 bytes, and that the individual addresses do not
fit in the 4-byte boundary. That is why we do not show the
regular 4-byte boundaries for these addresses. Also note that the
IP addresses are shown in hexadecimal. For information on
binary or hexadecimal notation see Appendix B.

See Next Slide

18 OPM
 Example 1

19 OPM
 Proxy ARP

A proxy ARP, running in a router, can respond to an ARP request for any of its
sub- ordinate device. The proxy ARP replies with its own MAC address.
When the packet arrives, the router delivers it to the appropriate host.

20 OPM
 ARP Software Package
An example of a simplified ARP software package

ARP software package consists of five modules: a cache table, queues, an

output module, an input module, and a cache-control module.

The topics discussed in this section include:

Cache Table
Queues
Output Module
Input Module
Cache-Control Module

21 OPM
 ARP components

22 OPM
 The Cache Table
 If ARP just resolved an IP address, chances are a few moments later someone
is going to ask to resolve the same IP address.

 When ARP returns a MAC address, it is placed in a cache table. When the
next request comes in for the same IP address, look first in the cache table.

 Essential for the efficient operation of ARP is the maintenance of

an ARP cache on each host.

23 OPM
 Original cache table used for examples

24 OPM
 The Cache Table Contents

 State: FREE, PENDING, RESOLVED

 Hardware type: same as ARP field
 Protocol type: same as ARP field
 Hardware length: same as ARP field
 Protocol length: same as ARP field
 Interface number: port number (m0,m1, m2)
 Queue number: which queue the ARP request is sitting in
 Attempts: how many times have you tried to resolve this address?
 Time-out: how long until this address is tossed out (need space in cache)
 Hardware address: destination hardware address
 Protocol address: destination IP address

25 OPM
 How Does the Cache Work?
 Output Module
 The output module waits for an IP packet with a request
 Checks the cache for an existing entry
 If entry found and state RESOLVED, we already have this MAC
address

 If entry found and state PENDING, packet waits until destination

hardware address found

 If no entry found, output module places this request in queue, and a

new entry is placed in cache with state PENDING and ATTEMPTS
set to 1. An ARP request is then broadcasted.

26 OPM
 How Does the Cache Work?
 Input Module
 The input module waits until an ARP request or reply arrives

 Module checks the cache for this entry

 If entry is found and state is PENDING, module updates entry’s

target hardware address, changes state to RESOLVED, and sets the
TIME-OUT value

27 OPM
 How Does the Cache Work?

 Input Module (cont.)

 If entry is found and state RESOLVED, module still updates the entry
(target hardware address could have changed) and the TIME-OUT
value reset

 If entry not found, module creates a new entry. State is set to

RESOLVED and TIME-OUT is set

 Now the module checks to see if arrived ARP packet is a Request. If

it is, the module immediately creates an ARP Reply message and
sends it back to sender.

28 OPM
 How Does the Cache Work?
 Control Module

 The cache-control module periodically checks each cache entry

 If entry’s state is FREE, skips it

 If entry’s state is PENDING, Attempts field is incremented by 1. This

value greater than max? Toss this entry (and mark entry as FREE).
Less than max? Send another ARP request

 If state of entry is RESOLVED, module decrements value of Time-out

field accordingly

 If Time-out field < 0, then remove entry and set state to FREE
29 OPM
 Original cache table used for examples

30 OPM
 Example 2

The ARP output module receives an IP datagram (from the

IP layer) with the destination address [Link].
It checks the cache table and finds that an entry exists for this
destination with the RESOLVED state (R in the table).

It extracts the hardware address, which is 457342ACAE32, and sends

the packet and the address to the data link layer for transmission.

The cache table remains the same.

31 OPM
 Example 3

Twenty seconds later, the ARP output module receives an IP

datagram (from the IP layer) with the destination address
[Link].
It checks the cache table and does not find this destination in the table.
The module adds an entry to the table with the state PENDING and the
Attempt value 1.
It creates a new queue for this destination. It then sends an ARP request
to the data link layer for this destination.

32 OPM See Next Slide

 Updated cache table for Example 3

33 OPM
 Example 4

Fifteen seconds later, the ARP input module receives an ARP reply
packet with target protocol (IP) address [Link].
The module checks the table and finds this address.
 It changes the state of the entry to RESOLVED and sets the time-out value
to 900.
The module then adds the target hardware address (E34573242ACA) to the
entry.
Now it accesses queue 18 and sends all the packets in this queue, one by one,
to the data link layer. The new cache table is shown in next slide.

See Next Slide

34 OPM
 Updated cache table for Example 4

35 OPM
 Example 5

Twenty-five seconds later, the cache-control module updates every

entry.
The time-out values for the first three resolved entries are decremented by
60.
The time-out value for the last resolved entry is decremented by 25.
The state of the next-to-the last entry is changed to FREE because the time-
out is zero.
For each of the three pending entries, the value of the attempts field is
incremented by 1. One entry (IP address [Link] is over max, so change to
FREE.

See Next Slide

36 OPM
Updated cache table for Example 5

37 OPM
 ARP Probe message

ARP Probe is used in the IPv4 Address Conflict Detection

specification (RFC 5227).

It is an ARP request constructed with an all-zero sender IP

address.

Before beginning to use an IPv4 address (whether received from

manual configuration, DHCP, or some other means), a host
implementing this specification must test to see if the address is
already in use, by broadcasting ARP probe packets

38 OPM
 ARP announcement / gratuitous message
This is useful for updating other host’s mapping of a hardware address when the sender's
IP address or MAC address has changed.

ARP request is broadcasted containing the sender's protocol and Hardware address, with
the target hardware address set to zero.

An alternative is to broadcast an ARP reply with the sender's hardware and protocol
addresses .

An ARP announcement is not intended to solicit a reply.

Gratuitous ARP is also used by some interface drivers to provide load balancing for
incoming traffic (sends information without requests).

 In a team of network cards, it is used to announce a different MAC address within the
team that should receive incoming packets.

39 OPM
40 OPM
 RARP
RARP finds the logical address (IP) for a machine that only knows its
physical address.

This if often encountered on thin-client workstations. No disk (memory), so

when machine is booted, it needs to know its IP address (don’t want to burn
the IP address into the ROM).

RARP requests are broadcast, RARP replies are unicast.

If a thin-client workstation needs to know its IP address, it probably

also needs to know its subnet mask, router address, DNS address, etc.

So we need something more than RARP. BOOTP, and now DHCP have
replaced RARP.

41 OPM
 RARP operation

42 OPM
 RARP packet (IP PDU)

43 OPM
 Encapsulation of RARP packet

44 OPM
 InARP (Inverse ARP)
 Inverse Address Resolution Protocol (Inverse ARP or InARP) is
used to obtain Network layer addresses (for example, IP addresses) of
other nodes from data link layer (Layer 2) DLCI addresses.

 It is primarily used in Frame relay networks based on TDMA,SDMA,

FDMA, OFDMA based on Data Link Connection Identifier (DLCI)
and ATM networks, in which Layer 2 addresses of virtual circuits are
sometimes obtained from Layer 2 signaling, and the corresponding
Layer 3 addresses must be available before those virtual circuits can be
used.

45 OPM
 InARP (Cont.)

 Since ARP translates Layer 3 addresses to Layer 2 addresses,

InARP may be described as its inverse. In addition, InARP is
implemented as a protocol extension to ARP: it uses the same
packet format as ARP, but different operation codes as for request
= 8, reply = 9.

 The RARP, like InARP, translates Layer 2 addresses to Layer 3

addresses. However, in InARP the requesting station queries the
Layer 3 address of another node, whereas RARP is used to obtain
the Layer 3 address of the requesting station itself for address
configuration purposes

46 OPM
 Frame-relay inverse-ARP
 Frame-relay is a layer 2 technique that uses a concept of Connection
Identifier to distinguish user connections in TDMA, OFDM,
OFDMA, SDMA based and ATM networks.

 These days WiFi, WiMAX and LTE are OFDMA based wireless
technique which uses Connection Identifiers (CID) at Layer 2.

 In WiMAX connection Identifiers (CID) are of 16 bit length (total

2^16 CIDs are classified as Initial, Management, Traffic and Relay
sub-sets based on their utilization), All the CIDs can be reused in
another network cell (under one Base Station) except replay sub-set
of CIDs.

47 OPM
 Connection techniques in Frame based networks
 Two techniques are used to assign DLCI between adjacent devices
 Common DLCI (widely used)
 Distinct DLCI

 Single virtual connection between two devices

 Central device assigns a DLCI and Protocol address (network address) to
a host device.
 The host device requests Protocol address of Central device/ other host
device by sending InARP request.

 Multiple virtual connection between two device

 Central device assigns a DLCIs and Protocol addresses (network
address) to a host device as per number of virtual connections for
example
OPM
based on type of services.
48
 Comparison of ARP, RARP & InARP
Parameter ARP RARP InARP
Protocol TCP/IP based LAN TCP/IP based LAN Frame based Networks
used in (WLAN, ATM, WiMAX, LTE
etc.)
Mapping IP to Hardware Address Hardware to IP address DLCI to IP address
(Static IP allocation) (Dynamic IP allocation) (Dynamic IP allocation)
Intermedi Opportunistic as per Opportunistic as per Always necessary to access
ate device network topology network topology Frame based networks
required
Eathernet 0x0806 0x8035 assigned by IANA based on
type field different types of protocols and
Technologies
Request & Request 1 , Reply 2 Request 3 , Reply 4 Request 8 , Reply 9
Reply
fields

49 OPM
 QoS scheduling in WiMAX

50 CID/SID=
OPM connection Identifier/Subscriber identifier
 The TDMA frame format

Super-frame

Random Random
Reserved Access Reserved Access

p1 p1 p0 p0 p1

0 1 0 1

Transmit Part Receive Part

51 OPM
 Space Division Multiple Access

 primitive applications are “Sectorized

antennas”

• in future adaptive antennas

simultaneously steer energy
in the direction of many users at
once

52 OPM
 SDMA in satellites

 SDMA dual-beam receive

antenna
 simultaneously access from two
different regions of the earth

53 OPM
 OFDM frame

54 OPM
 OFDMA/TDD frame (WiFi, WiMAX)

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