Overview#

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is a communication protocol used for discovering the Link Layer address, such as a MAC Address, associated with a given internet layer address, typically an IPv4 address.

This mapping is a critical function in the Internet Protocol Suite. Address Resolution Protocol was defined in 1982 by RFC 826.

ARP has been implemented with many combinations of Network Layer and Data-link Layer technologies, such as:

• IPv4
• VINES
• Chaosnet
• DECnet
• Xerox PARC Universal Packet (PUP) using IEEE 802 standards,
• FDDI
• X.25
• Frame Relay
• Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
• AppleTalk (AARP)

In Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) networks, the functionality of ARP is provided by the Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP).

More Information#

There might be more information for this subject on one of the following:

• ARP
• VINES Internetwork Protocol