arp -- Address Resolution Protocol
device ether
The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is used to dynamically map between
Protocol Addresses (such as IP addresses) and Local Network Addresses
(such as Ethernet addresses). This implementation maps IP addresses to
Ethernet, ARCnet, or Token Ring addresses. It is used by all the Ethernet
interface drivers.
ARP caches Internet-Ethernet address mappings. When an interface
requests a mapping for an address not in the cache, ARP queues the message
which requires the mapping and broadcasts a message on the associated
network requesting the address mapping. If a response is provided,
the new mapping is cached and any pending message is transmitted. ARP
will queue at most one packet while waiting for a response to a mapping
request; only the most recently ``transmitted'' packet is kept. If the
target host does not respond after several requests, the host is considered
to be down for a short period (normally 20 seconds), allowing an
error to be returned to transmission attempts during this interval. The
error is EHOSTDOWN for a non-responding destination host, and
EHOSTUNREACH for a non-responding router.
The ARP cache is stored in the system routing table as dynamically-created
host routes. The route to a directly-attached Ethernet network is
installed as a ``cloning'' route (one with the RTF_CLONING flag set),
causing routes to individual hosts on that network to be created on
demand. These routes time out periodically (normally 20 minutes after
validated; entries are not validated when not in use). An entry for a
host which is not responding is a ``reject'' route (one with the
RTF_REJECT flag set).
ARP entries may be added, deleted or changed with the arp(8) utility.
Manually-added entries may be temporary or permanent, and may be
``published'', in which case the system will respond to ARP requests for
that host as if it were the target of the request.
In the past, ARP was used to negotiate the use of a trailer encapsulation.
This is no longer supported.
ARP watches passively for hosts impersonating the local host (i.e. a host
which responds to an ARP mapping request for the local host's address).
arp: %x:%x:%x:%x:%x:%x is using my IP address %d.%d.%d.%d!: ARP has discovered
another host on the local network which responds to mapping
requests for its own Internet address with a different Ethernet address,
generally indicating that two hosts are attempting to use the same Internet
address.
arp: ether address is broadcast for IP address %d.%d.%d.%d!: ARP
requested information for a host, and received an answer indicating that
the host's ethernet address is the ethernet broadcast address. This
indicates a misconfigured or broken device.
arp: %d.%d.%d.%d moved from %x:%x:%x:%x:%x:%x to %x:%x:%x:%x:%x:%x: ARP
had a cached value for the ethernet address of the referenced host, but
received a reply indicating that the host is at a new address. This can
happen normally when host hardware addresses change, or when a mobile
node arrives or leaves the local subnet. It can also indicate a problem
with proxy ARP. This message can only be issued if the sysctl
net.link.ether.inet.log_arp_movements is set to 1, which is the system's
default behaviour.
arpresolve: can't allocate llinfo for %d.%d.%d.%d: The route for the referenced
host points to a device upon which ARP is required, but ARP was
unable to allocate a routing table entry in which to store the host's MAC
address. This usually points to a misconfigured routing table. It can
also occur if the kernel cannot allocate memory.
arp: %d.%d.%d.%d is on if0 but got reply from %x:%x:%x:%x:%x:%x on if1:
Physical connections exist to the same logical IP network on both if0 and
if1. It can also occur if an entry already exists in the ARP cache for
the IP address above, and the cable has been disconnected from if0, then
reconnected to if1. This message can only be issued if the sysctl
net.link.ether.inet.log_arp_wrong_iface is set to 1, which is the system's
default behaviour.
inet(4), route(4), arp(8), ifconfig(8), route(8), sysctl(8)
Plummer, D., "RFC826", An Ethernet Address Resolution Protocol.
Leffler, S.J. and Karels, M.J., "RFC893", Trailer Encapsulations.
FreeBSD 5.2.1 April 18, 1994 FreeBSD 5.2.1 [ Back ] |
