What does ARP stand for?

ARP stands for Address Resolution Protocol. It is a crucial protocol used in networking that allows devices on a local area network (LAN) to discover the hardware address (such as a MAC address) associated with a given IP address. When a device wants to communicate with another device over a network, it uses ARP to translate the IP address into a physical address. This ensures that the data packets are sent to the correct device on the local network.

By sending a broadcast ARP request, a device queries all other devices on the network to find out which one owns the specified IP address. The device that recognizes its IP address responds with its MAC address, allowing the sender to encapsulate the data for transmission. Understanding ARP is essential for troubleshooting and managing IP networking, as it plays a fundamental role in enabling communication between devices within the same network.