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Dynamic ARP

This chapter describes how to activate dynamic Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) learning and how to enter static ARP table entries.

20.1 ARP Table Overview

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is a protocol for mapping an Internet Protocol address (IP address) to a physical machine address, also known as a Media Access Control or MAC address, on the local area network.

An IP (version 4) address is 32 bits long. In an Ethernet LAN, MAC addresses are 48 bits long. The ARP table maintains an association between each MAC address and its corresponding IP address.

20.1.1 ARP Table Entries

The ARP table is populated with MAC and corresponding IP address mappings in two different ways.

DHCP Snooping - The switch listens to traffic from a DHCP server on a trusted port and learns IP-to-MAC address bindings by parsing DHCP ACK packets.

Static Entries - The switch administrator can enter static IP-to-MAC address mappings via the web configurator.

20.1.2How Dynamic ARP Works

When an incoming ARP packet destined for a host device on a local area network arrives at the switch, the switch's ARP program looks in the ARP table and, if it finds the address, sends it to the device.

If no entry is found for the IP address, dynamic ARP discards the ARP packet.

20.2 Enabling Dynamic ARP

Click Dynamic ARP > Settings in the navigation panel to open the following screen. Use the Dynamic ARP screen to configure ARP filtering on the specified VLANs.

 

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ES-1552 User’s Guide