Stands for "Address Resolution Protocol". ARP is a protocol used to map an IP address to a computer connected to a LAN. Since each computer has a unique physical address called MAC address, ARP translates IP address to the MAC address. This ensures that each computer has a unique network identification.
The Address Resolution Protocol is used when the information sent to the network arrives at the gateway, which serves as the network entry point. The gateway uses ARP to find the computer's MAC address based on the IP address, the data is sent. The ARP typically considers this information in a table called "ARP cache." If the address is found, the information is transmitted to the gateway, which will send the incoming data to the appropriate machine. It can also convert the data to correct network format if necessary.
If the address is not found, the ARP broadcasts a "request packet" to other machines on the network to see if the IP address belongs to a device that is not in the ARP cache. If a system is valid, the information will be forwarded to the gateway and the ARP cache will be updated with the new information. by updating the ARP cache, future requests for that IP address will be much faster. While this may seem as a complex process, it usually only takes a split second to complete. If only it were that easy to find old recipes where you need it