NETGEAR DG814 DSL manual MAC Addresses and Address Resolution Protocol, Domain Name Server

Reference Manual for the Model DG814 DSL Modem Internet Gateway

MAC Addresses and Address Resolution Protocol

An IP address alone cannot be used to deliver data from one LAN device to another. To send data between LAN devices, you must convert the IP address of the destination device to its media access control (MAC) address. Each device on an Ethernet network has a unique MAC address, which is a 48-bit number assigned to each device by the manufacturer. The technique that associates the IP address with a MAC address is known as address resolution. Internet Protocol uses the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) to resolve MAC addresses.

If a device sends data to another station on the network and the destination MAC address is not yet recorded, ARP is used. An ARP request is broadcast onto the network. All stations on the network receive and read the request. The destination IP address for the chosen station is included as part of the message so that only the station with this IP address responds to the ARP request. All other stations discard the request.

The station with the correct IP address responds with its own MAC address directly to the sending device. The receiving station provides the transmitting station with the required destination MAC address. The IP address data and MAC address data for each station are held in an ARP table. The next time data is sent, the address can be obtained from the address information in the table.

Domain Name Server

Many of the resources on the Internet can be addressed by simple descriptive names such as www.NETGEAR.com. This addressing is very helpful at the application level, but the descriptive name must be translated to an IP address in order for a user to actually contact the resource. Just as a telephone directory maps names to phone numbers, or as an ARP table maps IP addresses to MAC addresses, a domain name system (DNS) server maps descriptive names of network resources to IP addresses.

When a PC accesses a resource by its descriptive name, it first contacts a DNS server to obtain the IP address of the resource. The PC sends the desired message using the IP address. Many large organizations, such as ISPs, maintain their own DNS servers and allow their customers to use the servers to look up addresses.

Networks and Routing Basics B-9