Editing Address Resolution Protocol (section)

==Alternatives==
IPv6 uses the [[Neighbor Discovery Protocol]] and its extensions such as [[Secure Neighbor Discovery]], rather than ARP.

Computers can maintain lists of known addresses, rather than using an active protocol. In this model, each computer maintains a database of the mapping of [[Layer 3]] addresses (e.g., [[IP addresses]]) to [[Layer 2]] addresses (e.g., [[Ethernet]] [[MAC addresses]]). This data is maintained primarily by interpreting ARP packets from the local network link. Thus, it is often called the ''[[ARP cache]]''. Since at least the 1980s,<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=arp&apropos=0&sektion=0&manpath=2.10+BSD&arch=default&format=html
| author = University of California, Berkeley
| title = BSD manual page for arp(8C) command
| access-date= 2011-09-28}}</ref> networked computers have a utility called ''arp'' for interrogating or manipulating this database.<ref>{{cite web
 |url=http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/lucid/man8/arp.8.html 
 |author=Canonical 
 |title=Ubuntu manual page for arp(8) command 
 |access-date=2011-09-28 
 |url-status=dead 
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316213518/http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/lucid/man8/arp.8.html 
 |archive-date=2012-03-16 
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url = https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/#documentation/Darwin/Reference/ManPages/man8/arp.8.html
| author = Apple Computer
| title = Mac OS X manual page for arp(8) command
| access-date= 2011-09-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
| url = https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc786759%28WS.10%29.aspx
| author = Microsoft
| title = Windows help for arp command
| access-date= 2011-09-28}}</ref>

Historically, other methods were used to maintain the mapping between addresses, such as static configuration files,<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=ethers&sektion=5&apropos=0&manpath=SunOS+4.1.3
| author = Sun Microsystems
| title = SunOS manual page for ethers(5) file
| access-date= 2011-09-28}}</ref> or centrally maintained lists.