rarpd(1Mtcp)

rarpd -- Reverse Address Resolution Protocol daemon

Synopsis

in.rarpd [ -d ] device [ hostname ]
in.rarpd -a [ -d ]

Description

The rarpd command starts a daemon that responds to Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP) requests. The daemon forks a copy of itself that runs in background. It must be run as root.

Files

/etc/ethers
/etc/hosts

Usage

RARP is used by machines at boot time to discover their Internet Protocol (IP) address. The booting machine provides its Ethernet address in a RARP request message. Using the ethers and hosts databases, rarpd maps this Ethernet address into the corresponding IP address which it returns to the booting machine in an RARP reply message. The booting machine must be listed in both databases for rarpd to locate its IP address. rarpd does not issue a reply if it fails to locate an IP address.

In the first usage of rarpd shown in the ``Synopsis'' section, the device argument names the network interface on which rarpd is to listen for requests. device takes the form ``nameUNIT'' form used by ifconfig(1Mtcp). The hostname argument is used to obtain the IP address of the interface. An IP address in ``dotted-decimal'' notation may be used for hostname. If hostname is omitted, the address of the interface will be obtained from the kernel. In this usage of the command, rarpd must be run separately for each interface on which RARP service is to be supported. A router may invoke rarpd multiple times, for example:

/usr/sbin/in.rarpd wd0 host
/usr/sbin/in.rarpd wd1 host-backbone

In the second usage of rarpd shown in the ``Synopsis'' section, the -a option of rarpd locates all network interfaces present on the system and starts a daemon process for each one that supports RARP.

The -d option enables printing of debugging information the standard error output.

References

boot(1M), ethers(4tcp), hosts(4tcp), ifconfig(1Mtcp), netconfig(4bnu)

RFC 903