RARPD(8) System Manager's Manual RARPD(8)NAME
rarpd - reverse address resolution protocol daemon
SYNOPSIS
rarpd [-d]
DESCRIPTION
Rarpd listens on the ethernet for broadcast packets asking for reverse address resolution. These packets are sent by hosts at boot time to
find out their IP address. Rarpd looks up the six octet ethernet number in the /etc/ethers file finding a host name. This name is trans-
lated to the IP address of the host by a DNS lookup. The IP address is then sent to the host.
Before rarpd can start its service it first finds out what the IP addresses of the ethernets are. It will look through /etc/ethers to map
the ethernet addresses to host names. It then uses /etc/hosts to map the host names to IP addresses. If this lookup fails then several
RARP requests are broadcasted in the hope that some RARP server knows the addresses. The IP addresses are eventually set in the same way
as ifconfig(8). (The address is not changed if already set with ifconfig.) Note that the host names in the ethers and hosts files must
match exactly. The DNS can not be used yet, so a simple name can't be translated to a fully qualified name.
Rarpd exits after startup if there are no active ethernets, or if there is no ethers file.
Warning! Sun diskless workstations assume that the first RARP server that answers is the host they are to boot from. For this to work all
other Sun RARP servers delay their answer if they are not also the requestors boot server. The Minix rarpd does not have this kludge so it
will happily engage the Sun boot server to see who can answer the client first. Unless your Minix host can actually serve a Sun diskless
client, it is better not to list any more hosts in the ethers file than necessary.
OPTIONS -d Turns on debugging messages. Debugging can also be turned on at runtime by sending signal SIGUSR1 or turned off with SIGUSR2.
SEE ALSO ifconfig(8), ethers(5), hosts(5), set_net_default(8), boot(8), inetd(8), irdpd(8), nonamed(8).
AUTHOR
Kees J. Bot (kjb@cs.vu.nl)
RARPD(8)
Check Out this Related Man Page
in.rarpd(1M) System Administration Commands in.rarpd(1M)NAME
in.rarpd, rarpd - DARPA Reverse Address Resolution Protocol server
SYNOPSIS
/usr/sbin/in.rarpd [-d] -a
/usr/sbin/in.rarpd [-d] device unit
DESCRIPTION
in.rarpd 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.
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, in.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 in.rarpd to
locate its IP address. in.rarpd issues no reply when it fails to locate an IP address.
in.rarpd uses the STREAMS-based Data Link Provider Interface (DLPI) message set to communicate directly with the datalink device driver.
OPTIONS
The following options are supported:
-a Get the list of available network interfaces from IP using the SIOCGIFADDR ioctl and start a RARP daemon process on each interface
returned.
-d Print assorted debugging messages while executing.
EXAMPLES
Example 1 Starting An in.rarpd Daemon For Each Network Interface Name Returned From /dev/ip:
The following command starts an in.rarpd for each network interface name returned from /dev/ip:
example# /usr/sbin/in.rarpd -a
Example 2 Starting An in.rarpd Daemon On The Device /dev/le With The Device Instance Number 0
The following command starts one in.rarpd on the device /dev/le with the device instance number 0.
example# /usr/sbin/in.rarpd le 0
FILES
/etc/ethers File or other source, as specified by nsswitch.conf(4).
/etc/hosts File or other source, as specified by nsswitch.conf(4).
/tftpboot
/dev/ip
/dev/arp
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Availability |SUNWbsu |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
SEE ALSO svcs(1), boot(1M), ifconfig(1M), svcadm(1M), ethers(4), hosts(4), netconfig(4), nsswitch.conf(4),attributes(5), smf(5), dlpi(7P)
Finlayson, R., Mann, T., Mogul, J., and Theimer, M., RFC 903, A Reverse Address Resolution Protocol, Network Information Center, SRI Inter-
national, June 1984.
NOTES
The in.rarpd service is managed by the service management facility, smf(5), under the service identifier:
svc:/network/rarp
Administrative actions on this service, such as enabling, disabling, or requesting restart, can be performed using svcadm(1M). The ser-
vice's status can be queried using the svcs(1) command.
SunOS 5.11 20 Aug 2004 in.rarpd(1M)