TCP/IP Guide

RARP General Operation

Figure 14-2 shows the steps followed in a RARP transaction. As you can see, RARP uses a simple request and reply exchange to allow a device to obtain an IP address.

Figure 14-2. Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP) operation RARP consists of the exchange of one broadcast request message and one unicast reply message.

Here's what happens at each step:

1. Source Device Generates RARP Request Message The source device generates an RARP Request message. Thus, it uses the value 3 for the opcode in the message. It puts its own data link layer address as both the Sender Hardware Address and also the Target Hardware Address. It leaves ...