From owner-freebsd-questions Fri Nov 29 1:26:12 2002 Delivered-To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 02CF737B401 for ; Fri, 29 Nov 2002 01:26:11 -0800 (PST) Received: from smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (ns0.infracaninophile.co.uk [81.2.69.218]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 85CA143ED4 for ; Fri, 29 Nov 2002 01:26:09 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from m.seaman@infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: from happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by smtp.infracaninophile.co.uk (8.12.6/8.12.6) with ESMTP id gAT9Q0Qf064650 for ; Fri, 29 Nov 2002 09:26:00 GMT (envelope-from matthew@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk) Received: (from matthew@localhost) by happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophile.co.uk (8.12.6/8.12.6/Submit) id gAT9Ptwg064649 for FreeBSD-questions@FreeBSD.ORG; Fri, 29 Nov 2002 09:25:55 GMT Date: Fri, 29 Nov 2002 09:25:55 +0000 From: Matthew Seaman To: FreeBSD Questions Subject: Re: interpretation of arp output Message-ID: <20021129092555.GA64345@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophi> Mail-Followup-To: Matthew Seaman , FreeBSD Questions References: <20021129054715.GA869@raggedclown.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20021129054715.GA869@raggedclown.net> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.1i X-Spam-Status: No, hits=-3.0 required=5.0 tests=IN_REP_TO,QUOTED_EMAIL_TEXT,REFERENCES,SPAM_PHRASE_02_03, USER_AGENT,USER_AGENT_MUTT version=2.43 Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk List-ID: List-Archive: (Web Archive) List-Help: (List Instructions) List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Fri, Nov 29, 2002 at 06:47:15AM +0100, Cliff Sarginson wrote: > An arp -a gives the following line (amongst many happy bunnies) > > angelus.raggedclown.intra (192.168.1.50) at 00:a0:cc:d1:fb:88 on rl0 > [ethernet] > ? (192.168.1.255) at ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff on rl0 permanent [ethernet] That's quite normal. Some process is sending out packets to your network broadcast address. You can investigate what with tcpdump: tcpdump -i rl0 ip broadcast tcpdump -i rl0 ether broadcast > Can someone explain this to me .. the line with the "?" obviously. > Whether it is relevant or not the line above represents a Windows > XP system that does not get run very often (which means it may always > be there, but I have never noticed it). No: the entries in the arp table are just ordered by IP number. The machine 'angelus' just happens to be the next highest IP number active on your network. The '?' just means that the system can't resolve that IP number into a hostname. You can add entries for 192.168.1.255 to your /etc/hosts or your DNS so that arp will have something to print out if you want. Cheers, Matthew -- Dr Matthew J Seaman MA, D.Phil. 26 The Paddocks Savill Way Marlow Tel: +44 1628 476614 Bucks., SL7 1TH UK To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message