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ARP Tables Lookup Algorithms

ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) is used to map IP addresses to MAC addresses in local networks. Routers maintain ARP tables to map addresses of devices on their networks. This document analyzes and compares the performance of three algorithms for searching ARP tables: Linear search, Binary search, and a hybrid Prefix-match/Binary search approach. An ARP table with 1,000 random IP/MAC address entries was created. The algorithms were tested by searching 50 random IPs. The hybrid Prefix-match/Binary search performed best, using less time and iterations on average than the other algorithms. Binary search was more efficient than Linear search.

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Douglas Mangini
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333 views

ARP Tables Lookup Algorithms

ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) is used to map IP addresses to MAC addresses in local networks. Routers maintain ARP tables to map addresses of devices on their networks. This document analyzes and compares the performance of three algorithms for searching ARP tables: Linear search, Binary search, and a hybrid Prefix-match/Binary search approach. An ARP table with 1,000 random IP/MAC address entries was created. The algorithms were tested by searching 50 random IPs. The hybrid Prefix-match/Binary search performed best, using less time and iterations on average than the other algorithms. Binary search was more efficient than Linear search.

Uploaded by

Douglas Mangini
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction

ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) is a data link layer protocol


used in networks to find out the physical address of other hosts
based on their IPs. This protocol generates ARP tables, that consist
of IP and MAC addresses tables that contain the addresses of all
devices connected to the network in which a certain machine is
placed on.
Routers keep these ARP tables because when they receive a
packet that is destined for a host with a specific IP address, they
may need to know the MAC address of the destination host in order
to able to forward packets towards the correct direction.
In the creation or update processes of these tables, routers
send a broadcast request to the network in which the destination
host is on. This request has the IP it wants to know the physical
address associated, and the host that recognises this IP as its own
reply with its MAC.
Each machine in a network maintains its own ARP cache with
an ARP table. This is done with the aim of diminishing latency on
communications and the load in networks according to
http://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Address_Resolution_Protocol.
Figure 1 shows an example of ARP tables:

Figure 1: ARP Table example

With the aim performing queries upon these tables, machines


make use of lookup algorithms. These algorithms (also called search
algorithms) are defined as a procedure for finding items with
specified properties among a collection of items (a table, in this
case) in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Search_algorithm. The chosen
lookup algorithms implemented in the devices of a network can
affect its delay, making them significantly slower if the algorithms
are not well designed.
This report will analyse three algorithms that can be used in
the context of searching upon an ARP table regarding their
efficiency and viability, which are Linear Search (also known as
Exact-match lookup), Binary Search and a mix of Prefix-match with

Binary Search. Measurements as average elapsed time, average


number of needed iterations, and memory usage were done and
compared. Also, an overview of their theoretical complexity is
given when applicable.
Procedure
A set of one thousand IPs and associated MAC addresses were
created randomically and put inside of a matrix for serving an ARP
table. Implementations of Linear Search, Binary Search and a fusion
between Binary Search and Prefix-Match Lookups were also
developed. These algorithms were chosen based on the book
Network Algorithmics of G. Varghese.
Linear search consists in verifying elements one by one in a
list. Binary Search assumes an ordered list and starts the search by
its middle. It cuts the amount of elements it needs to verify by half
in each iteration by analysing if the element searched in higher or
lower than the one it is comparing to in that iteration (then it
continues to search only in the part of the list that the element
could be). Prefix-match uses the prefix of the IP to diminish the
searching area, because it only needs to search the ARP table on the
part of it where the IPs with the same prefix are located.
After, a testing software was coded. It consists in randomically
generating fifty IPs and searching them on the ARP table. After each
search, the testing software takes in account the time elapsed,
number of iterations that were done and the amount of memory
that was used.
With those measurements, the average of the first two values
were calculated and are here presented in Graphs 1 and 2.

The results were expected because the Linear Search


algorithm has a complexity of O(n) in its average case, while Binary
Searchs one is O(log n).

Conclusion
From the three algorithms analysed, the combined version of
Prefix-match with Binary Search was the one that presented the
best performance. With way less time consumed and iterations
needed to find an IP (on average), it saves reasonable resources and
causes a lot less delay on the network than Linear Search. Pure
Binary Search presented a relatively good performance, ranking
second in this test, but still being extremely better the Linear
Search.

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