> > You are right that when I ping x.x.x.x I do know the IP address. > Yet according to the DSL-HOWTO/appendix.html > > ARP > Address Resolution Protocol. Converts MAC addresses to IP > addresses. > > The way I read this is that an ARP request would send the MAC and expect > the IP in return. That is, what is known is the MAC and what is looked > after is the IP. If my understanding is correct then what both of us are > missing is how this integrates into Ethernet communication.
There is no "Conversion". You ping a host, your machine doesn't know the MAC address(unless it's in cache). Your machine sends a packet to the destination IP, with a MAC address destination of 0xFFFFFFFF. All machines process this at the data-link layer, but only the machine with the pertinent destination IP replys, with it's MAC address. Then, proper TCP handshaking or whatever can occur. This is of course an example when the destination machine is on the LAN. This information is available on the web. Please be so kind as to read it. It's extremely basic networking information. Amir. ================================================================= To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word "unsubscribe" in the message body, e.g., run the command echo unsubscribe | mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
