OSI

[Mark]

I was curious why ARP and RARP aren't used at the Data-Link Layer (since Data-Link deals with MAC/Hardware Addresses) and Dan answered my question in a way that was easily understood.

This is just a request for Dan to explain to everyone else who is interested to know what is unique about the Data-Link Layer and the Network layer regarding ARP, RARP, and MAC addresses/MAC addressing.

Thanks Dan!

[orastreet]

They aren't used at the DLL because they are used to resolve and discover Layer 3 addressing. It sends a broadcast message and the response happens on Layer 3.

[aguilera]

ARP - Address Resolution Protocol
RARP - Reverse Address Resolution Protocol

The above are 2 protocols within the TCP/IP protocol Suite.

Each of these are L3 protocols that correlate Layer 3 addressing schemes with Layer 2 addressing schemes.