Module 9: Address Resolution

Introduction to Networks v7.0 (ITN)

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Module Objectives

Module Title: Address Resolution

Module Objective: Explain how ARP and ND enable communication on a network.

Topic Title Topic Objective

MAC and IP Compare the roles of the MAC address and the IP address.

ARP Describe the purpose of ARP.

Neighbor Discovery Describe the operation of IPv6 neighbor discovery.

9.1 MAC and IP

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MAC and IP
Destination on Same Network
There are two primary addresses assigned to a device on an Ethernet LAN:
• Layer 2 physical address (the MAC address) – Used for NIC to NIC communications
on the same Ethernet network.
• Layer 3 logical address (the IP address) – Used to send the packet from the source
device to the destination device.
Layer 2 addresses are used to deliver frames from one NIC to another NIC on the same
network. If a destination IP address is on the same network, the destination MAC address
will be that of the destination device.
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MAC and IP
Destination on Remote Network
When the destination IP address is on a remote network, the destination MAC address is
that of the default gateway.
• ARP is used by IPv4 to associate the IPv4 address of a device with the MAC address of
the device NIC.
• ICMPv6 is used by IPv6 to associate the IPv6 address of a device with the MAC
address of the device NIC.
9.2 ARP

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ARP
ARP Overview
A device uses ARP to determine the
destination MAC address of a local
device when it knows its IPv4 address.

ARP provides two basic functions:

• Resolving IPv4 addresses to MAC
addresses
• Maintaining an ARP table of IPv4 to
MAC address mappings
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ARP
ARP Functions
To send a frame, a device will search its ARP table for a destination IPv4 address and a
corresponding MAC address.
• If the packet’s destination IPv4 address is on the same network, the device will search
the ARP table for the destination IPv4 address.
• If the destination IPv4 address is on a different network, the device will search the
ARP table for the IPv4 address of the default gateway.
• If the device locates the IPv4 address, its corresponding MAC address is used as the
destination MAC address in the frame.
• If there is no ARP table entry is found, then the device sends an ARP request.
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ARP
Removing Entries from an ARP Table
• Entries in the ARP table are not permanent and are removed when an ARP cache
timer expires after a specified period of time.
• The duration of the ARP cache timer differs depending on the operating system.
• ARP table entries can also be removed manually by the administrator.
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ARP
ARP Tables on Networking Devices
• The show ip arp command displays the ARP table on a Cisco router.
• The arp –a command displays the ARP table on a Windows 10 PC.

R1# show ip arp

Protocol Address Age (min) Hardware Addr Type Interface
Internet 192.168.10.1 - a0e0.af0d.e140 ARPA GigabitEthernet0/0/0

C:\Users\PC> arp -a

Interface: 192.168.1.124 --- 0x10

Internet Address Physical Address Type
192.168.1.1 c8-d7-19-cc-a0-86 dynamic
192.168.1.101 08-3e-0c-f5-f7-77 dynamic
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ARP
ARP Issues – ARP Broadcasting and ARP Spoofing
• ARP requests are received and processed by every device on the local network.
• Excessive ARP broadcasts can cause some reduction in performance.
• ARP replies can be spoofed by a threat actor to perform an ARP poisoning attack.
• Enterprise level switches include mitigation techniques to protect against ARP attacks.
9.3 IPv6 Neighbor Discovery

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IPv6 Neighbor Discovery
IPv6 Neighbor Discovery Messages
IPv6 Neighbor Discovery (ND) protocol provides:
• Address resolution
• Router discovery
• Redirection services
• ICMPv6 Neighbor Solicitation (NS) and Neighbor Advertisement (NA)
messages are used for device-to-device messaging such as address
resolution.
• ICMTPv6 Router Solicitation (RS) and Router Advertisement (RA) messages
are used for messaging between devices and routers for router discovery.
• ICMPv6 redirect messages are used by routers for better next-hop selection.
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IPv6 Neighbor Discovery
IPv6 Neighbor Discovery – Address Resolution
• IPv6 devices use ND to resolve
the MAC address of a known
IPv6 address.
• ICMPv6 Neighbor Solicitation
messages are sent using
special Ethernet and IPv6
multicast addresses.
9.4 Module Practice and Quiz

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Module Practice and Quiz
What did I learn in this module?
• Layer 2 physical addresses (i.e., Ethernet MAC addresses) are used to deliver the data link frame with the encapsulated IP packet from one
NIC to another NIC on the same network.
• If the destination IP address is on the same network, the destination MAC address will be that of the destination device.
• When the destination IP address (IPv4 or IPv6) is on a remote network, the destination MAC address will be the address of the host default
gateway (i.e., the router interface).
• An IPv4 device uses ARP to determine the destination MAC address of a local device when it knows its IPv4 address.
• ARP provides two basic functions: resolving IPv4 addresses to MAC addresses and maintaining a table of IPv4 to MAC address mappings.
• After the ARP reply is received, the device will add the IPv4 address and the corresponding MAC address to its ARP table.
• For each device, an ARP cache timer removes ARP entries that have not been used for a specified period of time.
• IPv6 does not use ARP, it uses the ND protocol to resolve MAC addresses.
• An IPv6 device uses ICMPv6 Neighbor Discovery to determine the destination MAC address of a local device when it knows its IPv6 address.
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