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RFC 1868: Hello,why using opcode 2 (ARPREPLY) for an UNARP packet? An...

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Comment by Dieter Hagel
Submitted on 9/25/2004
Related RFC: RFC 1868
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Hello,why using opcode 2 (ARPREPLY) for an UNARP packet? An ARPREPLY is normally send as a reaction of an ARPREQUEST. For removing an entry in the ARP cache table it would be better to extend the ARP protocol with the opcode (ARPRELEASE = 0). OK - this is not backward compatible, but in order to make protocols well structured it is better to define an new opcode, than missusing the ARP reply for such a function. I have seen several DHCP clients, which sends so-called UNARP packets, which included the hardware addresses although the hardware address length was set to zero. According to the backward compatibility. If ARP is correctly implemented, ARP packets with the opcode of 0 will be rejected. Best regards Dieter Hagel

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