xref: /freebsd/usr.sbin/arp/arp.4 (revision cc090be0823fefdb0ed8112873964fd9aac91077)
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32.\"	@(#)arp4.4	6.5 (Berkeley) 4/18/94
33.\" $FreeBSD$
34.\"
35.Dd April 18, 1994
36.Dt ARP 4
37.Os
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm arp
40.Nd Address Resolution Protocol
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Cd "device ether"
43.Sh DESCRIPTION
44The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is used to dynamically
45map between Protocol Addresses (such as IP addresses) and
46Local Network Addresses (such as Ethernet addresses).
47This implementation maps IP addresses to Ethernet,
48ARCnet,
49or Token Ring addresses.
50It is used by all the Ethernet interface drivers.
51.Pp
52ARP caches Internet-Ethernet address mappings.
53When an interface requests a mapping for an address not in the cache,
54ARP queues the message which requires the mapping and broadcasts
55a message on the associated network requesting the address mapping.
56If a response is provided, the new mapping is cached and any pending
57message is transmitted.
58ARP will queue at most one packet while waiting for a response to a
59mapping request;
60only the most recently ``transmitted'' packet is kept.
61If the target host does not respond after several requests,
62the host is considered to be down for a short period (normally 20 seconds),
63allowing an error to be returned to transmission attempts during this
64interval.
65The error is
66.Er EHOSTDOWN
67for a non-responding destination host, and
68.Er EHOSTUNREACH
69for a non-responding router.
70.Pp
71The ARP cache is stored in the system routing table as
72dynamically-created host routes.
73The route to a directly-attached Ethernet network is installed as a
74.Dq cloning
75route (one with the
76.Li RTF_CLONING
77flag set),
78causing routes to individual hosts on that network to be created on
79demand.
80These routes time out periodically (normally 20 minutes after validated;
81entries are not validated when not in use).
82An entry for a host which is not responding is a
83.Dq reject
84route (one with the
85.Li RTF_REJECT
86flag set).
87.Pp
88ARP entries may be added, deleted or changed with the
89.Xr arp 8
90utility.
91Manually-added entries may be temporary or permanent,
92and may be
93.Dq published ,
94in which case the system will respond to ARP requests for that host
95as if it were the target of the request.
96.Pp
97In the past,
98ARP was used to negotiate the use of a trailer encapsulation.
99This is no longer supported.
100.Pp
101ARP watches passively for hosts impersonating the local host (i.e. a host
102which responds to an ARP mapping request for the local host's address).
103.Pp
104Proxy ARP is a feature whereby the local host will respond to requests
105for addresses other than itself, with its own address.
106Normally, proxy ARP in
107.Fx
108is set up on a host-by-host basis using the
109.Xr arp 4
110utility, by adding an entry for each host inside a given subnet for
111which proxying of ARP requests is desired.
112However, the
113.Dq "proxy all"
114feature causes the local host to act as a proxy for
115.Em all
116hosts.
117It may be enabled by setting the
118.Xr sysctl 8
119MIB variable
120.Va net.link.ether.inet.proxyall
121to 1.
122.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
123.Em "arp: %x:%x:%x:%x:%x:%x is using my IP address %d.%d.%d.%d!" :
124ARP has discovered another host on the local network which responds to
125mapping requests for its own Internet address with a different Ethernet
126address, generally indicating that two hosts are attempting to use the
127same Internet address.
128.Pp
129.Em "arp: ether address is broadcast for IP address %d.%d.%d.%d!" :
130ARP requested information for a host, and received an answer indicating
131that the host's ethernet address is the ethernet broadcast address.
132This indicates a misconfigured or broken device.
133.Pp
134.Em "arp: %d.%d.%d.%d moved from %x:%x:%x:%x:%x:%x to %x:%x:%x:%x:%x:%x" :
135ARP had a cached value for the ethernet address of the referenced host,
136but received a reply indicating that the host is at a new address.
137This can happen normally when host hardware addresses change,
138or when a mobile node arrives or leaves the local subnet.
139It can also indicate a problem with proxy ARP.
140This message can only be issued if the sysctl
141.Va net.link.ether.inet.log_arp_movements
142is set to 1, which is the system's default behaviour.
143.Pp
144.Em "arpresolve: can't allocate llinfo for %d.%d.%d.%d" :
145The route for the referenced host points to a device upon which ARP is
146required, but ARP was unable to allocate a routing table entry in which
147to store the host's MAC address.
148This usually points to a misconfigured routing table.
149It can also occur if the kernel cannot allocate memory.
150.Pp
151.Em "arp: %d.%d.%d.%d is on if0 but got reply from %x:%x:%x:%x:%x:%x on if1" :
152Physical connections exist to the same logical IP network on both if0 and if1.
153It can also occur if an entry already exists in the ARP cache for the IP
154address above, and the cable has been disconnected from if0, then reconnected
155to if1.
156This message can only be issued if the sysctl
157.Va net.link.ether.inet.log_arp_wrong_iface
158is set to 1, which is the system's default behaviour.
159.Sh SEE ALSO
160.Xr inet 4 ,
161.Xr route 4 ,
162.Xr arp 8 ,
163.Xr ifconfig 8 ,
164.Xr route 8 ,
165.Xr sysctl 8
166.Rs
167.%A Plummer, D.
168.%B "An Ethernet Address Resolution Protocol"
169.%T RFC826
170.Re
171.Rs
172.%A Leffler, S.J.
173.%A Karels, M.J.
174.%B "Trailer Encapsulations
175.%T RFC893
176.Re
177