ARP resolves IP addresses to hardware
addresses. Each network adapter has a unique
hardware address
(commonly referred to as a MAC address) which it
uses for identification on the network.
When there is a need to locate a computer/peripheral
on the TCP/IP network, ARP first checks its local
cache to see if it contains the hardware address
for the computer/peripheral it is trying to
connect to.
If it the address is not in the ARP cache, ARP
broadcasts a message to the known IP address for
its
hardware address.
The computer it is trying to locate will receive
the broadcast and send a reply with its IP and
hardware addresses.
Once the hardware address has been attained, ARP
stores the resolved IP and hardware addresses in
cache, then proceeds with communication.
The ARP cache can be viewed and edited using the
ARP.EXE utility.
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