Re: ARP - IP but why?

Klunk wrote:
You know how things sometimes drop into place in your mind once you have a eureka moment and get the concept of something? Well, I would appreciate some help with a concept.

Looking at the various OSI layers and then the TCP/IP model I keep seeing this thing called ARP. I've figured that it is Address Resolution Protocol and it matches up network addresses with hardware (MAC) addresses. The thing I am blindly missing is why?

If you have a static IP address on an Ethernet network, why would you ever need to translate the IP address to a MAC address? You would already have a path to the host. I can see DHCP may need to employ the services of ARP, but a static IP???

It's like I say - this is one of those eureka 'Now I get it' moments.

I see what you're saying, but a client can't know if an IP address was assigned via DHCP or is static, so keeping a local IP/MAC cache isn't feasible.
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Relevant Pages

  • Re: ARP - IP but why?
    ... If you have a static IP address on an Ethernet network, ... ever need to translate the IP address to a MAC address? ... I can see DHCP may need to employ the ... It's like I say - this is one of those eureka 'Now I get it' moments. ...
    (comp.os.linux.networking)
  • ARP - IP but why?
    ... Protocol and it matches up network addresses with hardware (MAC) ... If you have a static IP address on an Ethernet network, ... of ARP, but a static IP??? ... It's like I say - this is one of those eureka 'Now I get it' moments. ...
    (comp.os.linux.networking)