Normal ARP Behavior

Figure 6-1 ARP Request in a Broadcast Frame a

0000.C5C0.0000

0000.C5C0.0000

0000.CAFE.0000

Host C IP: 10.0.0.3 MAC 0000.0666.0000

Host C IP: 10.0.0.3 MAC 0000.0666.0000

All hosts on the same Ethernet LAN or VLAN receive the ARP request and process it. Only host B reacts on the ARP request because its IP address, 10.0.0.2, matches the IP address inside the ARP request.

As Figure 6-2 shows, host B sends a solicited ARP reply to host A. This frame contains the binding between host B's MAC address and its IP address.

Figure 6-2 ARP Reply

0000.CAFE.0000

0000.CAFE.0000

Host C IP: 10.0.0.3 MAC 0000.0666.0000

Upon receipt of the ARP reply addressed to it, host A updates its ARP table, as shown in Table 6-1, with the <IP, MAC> address mapping for host B.

Back to ARP Basics 107

The <IP, MAC> Notation

In mathematics, it is common to write a pair of items, say FOO and BAR, between angle brackets like <FOO, BAR>. Therefore and for sake of clarity, the compact notation <IP, MAC> is used in this book to denote the pair of one IP address and one MAC address.

Table 6-1 Host A ARP Table

IP Address

MAC Address

10.0.0.1

0000.CAFE.0000

10.0.0.2

0000.C5C0.0000

As soon as an entry exists in the ARP table, host A can send IP packets to host B.

Continue reading here: Gratuitous ARP

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