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is it true ARP only works in single broadcast domain and arp packets are not routed frm 1 network to another ?

can any one give me any example or any source of info for this

hoping for positive response.

4 Answers4

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ARP was first defined in RFC 826. It is evident from the content that discovering the MAC address of a target IP-address is only useful, for packet delivery, within a single local broadcast domain.

RedGrittyBrick
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ARP packets are a Layer 2 frame. To route anything, you need IP addresses, which are contained in a Layer 3 packet. An ARP packet simply does not contain enough information to be routed.

Marcin
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Yes, that is basically correct. One can however proxy arps, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxy_ARP.

3molo
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But why would you want to route ARP, it's only of use on the target segment - what would you hope to achieve?

Chopper3
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