ARP(4)							   BSD Kernel Interfaces Manual 						    ARP(4)

NAME

     arp -- Address Resolution Protocol

SYNOPSIS

     device ether

DESCRIPTION

     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 con-
     sidered to be down allowing an error to be returned to transmission attempts.  Further demand for this mapping causes ARP request retransmis-
     sions, that are ratelimited to one packet per second.  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).

     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).

     Proxy ARP is a feature whereby the local host will respond to requests for addresses other than itself, with its own address.  Normally,
     proxy ARP in FreeBSD is set up on a host-by-host basis using the arp(8) utility, by adding an entry for each host inside a given subnet for
     which proxying of ARP requests is desired.  However, the ``proxy all'' feature causes the local host to act as a proxy for all hosts reach-
     able through some other network interface, different from the one the request came in from.  It may be enabled by setting the sysctl(8) MIB
     variable net.link.ether.inet.proxyall to 1.

MIB Variables
     The ARP protocol implements a number of configrable variables in net.link.ether.inet branch of the sysctl(3) MIB.

     max_age	   How long an ARP entry is held in the cache until it needs to be refreshed.

     maxtries	   Number of retransmits before host is considered down and error is returned.

     useloopback   If an ARP entry is added for local address, force the traffic to go through the loopback interface.

     proxyall	   Enables ARP proxying for all hosts on net.

DIAGNOSTICS

     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: link 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 on %s  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.

     arp: %x:%x:%x:%x:%x:%x attempts to modify permanent entry for %d.%d.%d.%d on %s  ARP has received an ARP reply that attempts to overwrite a
     permanent entry in the local ARP table.  This error will only be logged if the sysctl net.link.ether.inet.log_arp_permanent_modify is set to
     1, which is the system's default behaviour.

SEE ALSO

     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.

BSD
								  March 28, 2007							       BSD