What is Comparison between ARP and InARP?

Archived in the category: Network Layer
Posted by zyreel on 31 May 08 -

ARP translates Layer 3 addresses to Layer 2 addresses, therefore InARP can be viewed as its inverse. In addition, InARP is actually implemented as an extension to ARP. The packet formats are the same, only the operation code and the filled fields differ.
Reverse ARP (RARP), like InARP, also translates Layer 2 addresses to Layer 3 addresses. However, RARP is used to obtain the Layer 3 address of the requesting station itself, while in InARP the requesting station already knows its own Layer 2 and Layer 3 addresses, and it is querying the Layer 3 address of another station. RARP has since been abandoned in favor of BOOTP which was subsequently replaced by DHCP.

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