xref: /freebsd/usr.sbin/arp/arp.4 (revision daf1cffce2e07931f27c6c6998652e90df6ba87e)
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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 BSD 4
38.Sh NAME
39.Nm arp
40.Nd Address Resolution Protocol
41.Sh SYNOPSIS
42.Cd "pseudo-device ether"
43.Sh DESCRIPTION
44The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is a protocol used to dynamically
45map between Internet host addresses and 10Mb/s Ethernet addresses.
46It is used by all the 10Mb/s Ethernet interface drivers.
47It is not specific to Internet protocols or to 10Mb/s Ethernet,
48but this implementation currently supports only that combination.
49.Pp
50ARP caches Internet-Ethernet address mappings.
51When an interface requests a mapping for an address not in the cache,
52ARP queues the message which requires the mapping and broadcasts
53a message on the associated network requesting the address mapping.
54If a response is provided, the new mapping is cached and any pending
55message is transmitted.
56ARP will queue at most one packet while waiting for a response to a
57mapping request;
58only the most recently ``transmitted'' packet is kept.
59If the target host does not respond after several requests,
60the host is considered to be down for a short period (normally 20 seconds),
61allowing an error to be returned to transmission attempts during this
62interval.
63The error is
64.Li EHOSTDOWN
65for a non-responding destination host, and
66.Li EHOSTUNREACH
67for a non-responding router.
68.Pp
69The ARP cache is stored in the system routing table as
70dynamically-created host routes.
71The route to a directly-attached Ethernet network is installed as a
72.Dq cloning
73route (one with the
74.Li RTF_CLONING
75flag set),
76causing routes to individual hosts on that network to be created on
77demand.
78These routes time out periodically (normally 20 minutes after validated;
79entries are not validated when not in use).
80An entry for a host which is not responding is a
81.Dq reject
82route (one with the
83.Li RTF_REJECT
84flag set).
85.Pp
86ARP entries may be added, deleted or changed with the
87.Xr arp 8
88utility.
89Manually-added entries may be temporary or permanent,
90and may be
91.Dq published ,
92in which case the system will respond to ARP requests for that host
93as if it were the target of the request.
94.Pp
95In the past,
96ARP was used to negotiate the use of a trailer encapsulation.
97This is no longer supported.
98.Pp
99ARP watches passively for hosts impersonating the local host (i.e. a host
100which responds to an ARP mapping request for the local host's address).
101.Sh DIAGNOSTICS
102.Em "arp: %x:%x:%x:%x:%x:%x is using my IP address %d.%d.%d.%d!" :
103ARP has discovered another host on the local network which responds to
104mapping requests for its own Internet address with a different Ethernet
105address, generally indicating that two hosts are attempting to use the
106same Internet address.
107.Pp
108.Em "arp: ether address is broadcast for IP address %d.%d.%d.%d!" :
109ARP requested information for a host, and received an answer indicating
110that the host's ethernet address is the ethernet broadcast address.
111This indicates a misconfigured or broken device.
112.Pp
113.Em "arp: %d.%d.%d.%d moved from %x:%x:%x:%x:%x:%x to %x:%x:%x:%x:%x:%x" :
114ARP had a cached value for the ethernet address of the referenced host,
115but received a reply indicating that the host is at a new address.  This
116can happen normally when host hardware addresses change, or when a mobile
117node arrives or leaves the local subnet.  It can also indicate a problem
118with proxy ARP.
119.Pp
120.Em "arpresolve: can't allocate llinfo for %d.%d.%d.%d" :
121The route for the referenced host points to a device upon which ARP is
122required, but ARP was unable to allocate a routing table entry in which
123to store the host's MAC address.  This usually points to a misconfigured
124routing table.  It can also occur if the kernel cannot allocate memory.
125.Sh SEE ALSO
126.Xr inet 4 ,
127.Xr route 4 ,
128.Xr arp 8 ,
129.Xr ifconfig 8 ,
130.Xr route 8
131.sp
132.Rs
133.%A Plummer, D.
134.%B "An Ethernet Address Resolution Protocol"
135.%T RFC826
136.Re
137.Rs
138.%A Leffler, S.J.
139.%A Karels, M.J.
140.%B "Trailer Encapsulations
141.%T RFC893
142.Re
143
144