Each time a device sends or receives data using ARP, the information is added to the ARP cache. The ARP cache is a table maintained by each device on a network that stores mappings of IP addresses to MAC addresses. The device with that IP address will respond with its MAC address, which is then used by the sender to send the data. The ARP request contains the IP address of the destination device.

The device sends an ARP broadcast request to all devices on the network asking for the MAC address of the destination device. When a device wants to send data to another device on the same network, it first needs to find out the MAC address of the destination device. ARP is used to translate between the two types of addresses so that data can be transmitted from one device to another. This is essential because the data link layer (layer 2) uses MAC addresses to identify devices on a network, while the network layer (layer 3) uses IP addresses. What is ARP?ĪRP stands for Address Resolution Protocol, which is a protocol used to map an IP address to a physical (MAC) address on a local network. In this article, we will focus on layer 2 and the concept of relating IP and MAC addresses using Address Resolution Protocol (ARP). Layer 2 protocols deal with the data transmission over a single link while layer 3 protocols are responsible for routing data between multiple networks. In computer networks, layer 2 and layer 3 protocols play an important role in communication.

Linux get mac address c