ethers(5) [ultrix man page]
ethers(5) File Formats Manual ethers(5) Name ethers - database that maps Ethernet addresses to hostnames Description The file is used in conjunction with the reverse address resolution protocol daemon, to map Ethernet addresses to hostnames. It contains information about the known (48-bit) Ethernet addresses of hosts on the Internet. For each host on an Ethernet, a single line should be present in the file with the following information: Ethernet-address official-host-name Items are separated by one or more spaces or tabs. A number sign (#) indicates the beginning of a comment that extends to the end of line. The standard form for Ethernet addresses is: x:x:x:x:x:x The x is a hexadecimal number between 0 and ff, representing 1 byte. The address bytes are always in network order. Hostnames can contain any printable character other than a space, tab, newline, or number sign (#). Hostnames in the file should correspond to the hostnames in the file or to those provided by the name service. Examples The following is a sample file: 08:00:20:01:e5:1c host1 # Comments go here 08:00:20:01:d0:4c host2 # Comments go here 08:00:20:01:e0:1d host3 # Comments go here 08:00:20:00:c2:4e host4 # Comments go here See Also ethers(3n), hosts(5), rarpd(8c) Introduction to Networking and Distributed System Services ethers(5)
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rarpd(8) System Manager's Manual rarpd(8) NAME
rarpd - Reverse address resolution protocol (RARP) daemon SYNOPSIS
/usr/sbin/rarpd [interface] [-v] [-n] [-f filename] OPTIONS
Specifies the system's network interface. Causes rarpd to operate in verbose mode. This option logs details of RARP to syslog. The instance of a RARP request and its response are also logged. Disables checking of the ethers(4) file. By default, rarpd checks the ethers file once every ten minutes, and, if the file was modified, rarpd rereads the file. If you specify the -n option rarpd scans the /etc/ethers file once at startup time. Reads an alternate Ethernet address file. DESCRIPTION
The rarpd daemon maps the Ethernet address of a machine to the machine's Internet Protocol (IP) address. When rarpd is invoked, it reads the /etc/ethers file (by default) and waits to process a RARP request. The /etc/ethers file is checked every ten minutes for any changes. If the file has been modified, rarpd reads it again. You can disable this feature with the -n option. You can force a scan of the /etc/ethers file by sending the rarpd daemon a SIGHUP signal. See signal(2) for more information on SIGHUP. The format of the /etc/ethers file is described in ethers(4). You can specify a file other than /etc/ethers with the -f option. The inter- face is the network interface on which the rarpd daemon should listen. The command netstat -i shows the correct interface or interfaces for your system. The rarpd daemon uses the first interface it finds, if you do not specify an interface. See the netstat(1) reference page for more information. Because the rarpd daemon has been implemented with the Ethernet Packet Filter (see packetfilter(7)), you must configure your kernel with the packet filter option in order for rarpd to function properly. The packet filter detects RARP broadcast packets and passes them to rarpd for processing. The filter priority for rarpd is set to 28. All messages from the rarpd daemon are directed to syslog. RESTRICTIONS
The rarpd daemon ignores all ARP requests sent encapsulated within a RARP packet. ARP requests are handled directly by the kernel. The machine for which an IP address is being requested must be present in the server's /etc/hosts file. ERRORS
If the Packet Filter is not configured in your kernel, the following message is displayed on the console window and logged to syslog: PACK- ETFILTER is not configured in /vmunix FILES
Database that maps Ethernet addresses to hostnames SEE ALSO
Commands: arp(8), ifconfig(8), syslogd(8) Routines: ethers(3) Files: ethers(4), hosts(4), packetfilter(7) rarpd(8)