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Patel College
ARP AND RARP
PROTOCOLS
 ARP AND RARP
 Physical address and logical address are two
different identifiers, we require both of them

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for delivery of packet.

 Host/Routersrequires the mapping of logical

address to physical address and vice - varsa.

 These
can be done by using either static or
dynamic mapping.
 Static Mapping :

 Creating a table that associate a logical

address with physical address. Thus table is
stored on each machine on network.

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 Each machine that knows IP address of
another machine but not its physical address
can look it up in the table.
 This has limitation because physical address
may change.
 Table has to be updated periodically. This is
overhead could affect the network
performance.
 Dynamic Mapping :

 Each machine knows one of the two address (

logical & physical ) it can use protocol to find the
other one.

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 Two protocol design to perform dynamic
mapping are
 ARP ( Address Resolution Protocol )
It maps logical address to physical address
 RARP ( Reverse Address Resolution Protocol )

It maps physical address to logical address

 ARP and RARP are present at network layer.

 ARP REQUEST & RESPONSE
( WORKING OF ARP )
 Anytime a host/router needs to find the physical
address of another host/router on its network it sends
ARP query packet.
 The packet include the physical and IP address of

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sender and only IP address of receiver because sender
does not know physical address.
 This query is broadcast over the network.

 Every host/router on network receives and processes

the ARP packet, but only intended recipient recognizes
its IP address & sends ARP response packet with
required physical address.
 This packet is unicast directly to inquirer using the
physical address received in query packet.
 ARP PACKET FORMAT

Hardware Type 16 bit Protocol Type 16 bit

h/w length protocol operation 16 bit

8 bit length 8 bit request 1, reply 2

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32 bit Sender Hardware address (SHA)

32 bit Sender Protocol Address (SPA)

32 bit Target Hardware Address (THA)

32 bit Target Protocol Address (TPA)

 Hardware Type (16 bit field):
 Defines the type of network on which ARP is running.
 Each LAN has assigned integer based on its type. E.g.
Ethernet is 1

 Protocol Type (16 bit field):

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 Indicate the type of protocol used. E.g. IPV4
 Hardware Length (8 bit field):
 Defines the length of physical address in bytes. E.g.
Ethernet 6 byte i.e. length is 6*8=48 bits
 Protocol Length (8 bit field):
 Defines the length of logical address in bytes. E.g.
IPV4 uses 4 bytes i.e. 32 bits.
 Operation (16 bit field):
 Indicate type of ARP packet.
 For request it is 1 & for reply it is 2.

 SHA (32 bit field):

 Variable length field defining physical address of

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sender.
 SPA (32 bit field):
 Variable length field defining logical address of
sender.
 THA (32 bit field):
 Variable length field defining physical address of
receiver.
 TPA (32 bit field):
 Variable length field defining logical address of
receiver.
 ARP PACKAGE

 ARP package involves 5 components:

1. Cache Table

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2. Queues
3. Output Module
4. Input Module
5. Cache-Control Module
 soniya sharma. J. M. Patel College
ARP PACKAGE
 CACHE TABLE
 Sender needs to send more than one IP packet to some
destination. It is inefficient to use ARP protocol for each IP
datagram.
 The physical address received due to ARP reply is stored in
cache table and can be used by other datagram for same

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destination.
 Size of cache table is limited hence we cannot keep all the
entries for unlimited time. The cache table contains
following entries.
• State: state can be free, pending or resolved.
• Free : It means that time to live for this entry is expired

and this space can be used for a new entry.

• Pending : Request for this entry is sent but reply has not
yet been received.
• Resolved: Entry is complete & IP packet with hardware

address can be sent to data link layer.

• Timeout : This column shows the lifetime of entries in
number of seconds.
• Queue : ARP uses number of queues. In the queue
there are packets waiting for physical address.
• Attempts : This field shows the number of time the ARP
request is sent out for entry of cache table.

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• Hardware address : It shows the destination hardware
address. It remains empty until resolved by ARP reply.
• Protocol address : This column shows the destination
IP address.
State Queue Attempt Timeout Protocol add h/w add
R 7 - 9005 192.10.10.10 48 bit phy add
P 2 2 1006 192.68.1.2 -
 OUTPUT MODULE ( ALGORITHM )
1. Sleep until an IP packet is received from IP software.
2. If IP packet is received it checks the cache table for an
entry to find the destination address.
3. If entry is found
1. If the state is Resolved

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• Extract the value of h/w address from the entry.
• Send the packet & h/w address to the data link layer.
• Return to step 1
2. If the state is pending.
 Enque the packet to the corresponding queue & return.
4. If entry is not found
• Create a cache table entry with state set to pending &
attempts set to 1.
• Create a queue & enque the packet.
• Send an ARP request.
5. Return to step 1
 INPUT MODULE ( ALGORITHM )
1. Sleep until an IP packet (request / reply ) arrives.
2. If packet is reply then check cache table entry for this
packet otherwise go to step 5.
3. If entry is found
1. Update the entry

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2. If entry found and state is pending.
• While the queue is not empty
• De queue one packet.
• Send the packet and physical address of destination to
data link layer.
4. If entry is not found
• Create an entry
• Add the entry to the cache table.
5. If packet is request
• Send an ARP reply.
6. Return to step 1
 CACHE CONTROL MODULE
IT IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING THE CACHE TABLE.
1. Sleep until the periodic time matures.
2. For every entry in cache table
i. If the state is free
 continue.
ii. If the state is pending

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 Increment the value of attempts by 1
 If the attempts greater than maximum
 Change the state to free.
 Destroy the corresponding queue.
 Else
 Send an ARP request
 continue
iii. If the state is resolved
 Decrement the value of timeout by the value of elapsed time.
 If timeout is less than or equal to zero
 Change the state to free
 Destroy the corresponding queue.
3. Return to step 1
 QUEUES

 ARP package maintains a set of queues, one for each

destination, to hold the IP packets while ARP tries to
resolve the h/w address.

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 The output module sends the unresolved packets into
the corresponding queue.

 The input module removes a packet from queue &

sends it, with the resolved physical address, to the
data link layer for transmission.
RARP (REVERSE ADDRESS RESOLUTION PROTOCOL)
 RARP maps physical address to logical address.

 RARP finds the logical address for only those machines that
knows the physical address.

Each host / router is assign one or more logical address

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
which are independent of physical address.

 To create IP datagram a host needs to know its own IP

address. To get its IP address it broadcast RARP request to
all system on the network.

 When RARP request is received by the RARP sever on the

network it sends RARP reply packet that includes IP
address of requesting host. This reply is unicast.

 RARP server has all the physical & logical address over
network.
 RARP PACKET FORMAT
RARP PACKET FORMAT IS SAME AS ARP PACKET EXCEPT THE
OPERATION FIELD IS EITHER 3 OR 4
3- RARP REQUEST
4- RARP REPLY

Hardware Type 16 bit Protocol Type 16 bit

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h/w length protocol operation 16 bit
8 bit length 8 bit request 3 , reply 4

32 bit Sender Hardware address (SHA)

32 bit Sender Protocol Address (SPA)

32 bit Target Hardware Address (THA)

32 bit Target Protocol Address (TPA)

soniya sharma. J. M. Patel College
THE END