Computer Networks: Architecture and Protocols

ARP DHCP

Outline
ARP DHCP

UOB - Fall 2011-2012

CSIS321 - C. Mokbel

ARP
Map IP addresses into physical addresses
destination host next hop router

Techniques
encode physical address in host part of IP address table-based

Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)

table of IP to physical address bindings broadcast request if IP address not in table target machine responds with its physical address table entries are discarded if not refreshed
CSIS321 - C. Mokbel 3

UOB - Fall 2011-2012

ARP
Format of ARP packet:
Field 1 (16bits): addressing type (e.g. 1 for Ethernet) Field 2 (16bits): Type of the higher protocol for which we want to resolve the addressing Field 3 (8bits): Length in bytes of the LAN address Field 4 (8bits): Length in bytes of the protocol address Field 5 (16bits): Type of ARP request (1: request, 2: answer) Field 6 (---): Source LAN address Field 7 (---): Source protocol address Field 8 (---): Destination LAN address (if unknown 0 bytes) Field 9 (---): Destination protocol address
UOB - Fall 2011-2012 CSIS321 - C. Mokbel 4

ARP
A node receiving the ARP packet executes the following procedure (for no answers exit)
Is the type of physical address (field1) supported?
Yes: Is the protocol (field 2) supported ?
Yes: Updated := False. If the (protocol type, source protocol address) in my translation table, update the table and Updated := True Is the destination protocol address mine?
Yes: If Updated ==False, Add (protocol type, source protocol and physical address) to the translation table Is the received packet a request? Yes: Exchange the source and destination addresses and add the host physical address and specifies that it is a request answer (field 5) and send the packet
UOB - Fall 2011-2012 CSIS321 - C. Mokbel 5

DHCP
Physical address is proper to each host
Set by manufacturer

Internet address is not only proper to each host but should reflect also the network structure
Assigned by manager

For huge networks, administration becomes hard

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
UOB - Fall 2011-2012 CSIS321 - C. Mokbel 6

DHCP
DHCP follows a client/server architecture After booting a host (DHCP Client) requests its IP address from an administration server (DHCP Server)
Client sends DHCPDISCOVER message as a broadcast message (destination IP 255.255.255.255) Server replies with the host IP

UOB - Fall 2011-2012

CSIS321 - C. Mokbel

DHCP
DHCP server can be configured:
Manually: association between IP and Ethernet addresses Automatically: the server chooses the IP for a client
A chosen IP has a lifetime (Client re-asks for that IP)

1 DHCP server / Several DHCP agents

Agent resends as unicast packet the DHCP request to DHCP server
UOB - Fall 2011-2012 CSIS321 - C. Mokbel 8

DHCP
DHCP runs over UDP/IP DHCP is derived from a previous protocol called BOOTP

UOB - Fall 2011-2012

CSIS321 - C. Mokbel