CS610-Computer Networks Lecture No.
28
Lecture Handout
Computer Networks
Lecture No. 28
ADDRESS RESOLUTION SUMMARY:
It is shown in the figure below, in which T stands for Table lookup, C for Closed-
form Computation and D for Data Exchange.
Figure 28.1
ADDRESS RESOLUTION PROTOCOL:
TCP/IP can use any of the three address resolution methods depending on the
addressing scheme used by the underlying hardware. To guarantee that all computers
agree on the exact format and meaning of message used to resolve addresses. The TCP/IP
protocol suite includes an Address Resolution Protocol (ARP).
The ARP standard defines two basic message types:
• Request
• Response
REQUEST:
This contains and IP address and requests the corresponding hardware address.
RESPONSE:
This contains both the IP address sent in the request and the hardware address.
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© Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan
CS610-Computer Networks Lecture No.28
ARP MESSAGE DELIVERY:
ARP message delivery is shown in the figure below.
Figure 28.2
ARP MESSAGE FORMAT:
Although the ARP message format is sufficiently general to allow arbitrary
protocol and hardware addresses. ARP is almost always used to bind a 32-bit IP address
to a 48-bit Ethernet address.
ARP format is shown in the figure below:
Figure 28.3
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© Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan
CS610-Computer Networks Lecture No.28
SENDING AN ARP MESSAGE:
When one computer sends an ARP message to another the message travels inside
the hardware frame. Technically, placing a message inside a frame for transport is called
encapsulation as shown in the figure below.
Figure 28.4
IDENTIFYING ARP RESPONSES:
Let’s find out how does a computer know whether an incoming frame contains an
ARP message. The type field in the frame header specifies that the frame contain an ARP
message. The Ethernet standard species that the type field in an Ethernet frame carrying
an ARP message must contain the hexadecimal value 0 x 806, as shown in the figure
below.
Figure 28.5
CASHING ARP RESPONSES:
Although message exchange can be used to bind addresses, sending a request for
each binding is hopelessly inefficient. To reduce network traffic, ARP software extracts
and saves the information from a response so that it can be used for subsequent packets.
ARP manages the Table as a cache short-term storage.
PROCESSING AN INCOMING ARP MESSAGE:
When an ARP message arrives, the protocol specifies that the receiver must
perform two basic steps.
First the receiver extracts the sender’s addresses binding and checks to see if
It is present in the cache. If not, it updates the cache.
The receiver examines the operation field of the message to determine whether
the message is a request or a response. If the message is a request, the receiver compares
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© Copyright Virtual University of Pakistan
CS610-Computer Networks Lecture No.28
the field TARGET PADDR with the local protocol address. If the two are identical, the
computer is the target of the request and must send an ARP response.
LAYERING, ADDRESS RESOLUTION AND PROTOCOL ADDRESSES:
Address resolution (ARP) is a network interface layer function. Protocol
addresses are used in all higher layers. Address resolution software hides ugly details and
allows generality in upper layers. This is shown in the figure below.
Figure 28.6
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