Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Sun, 1 Dec 2002 21:35:06 +0100
From:      Cliff Sarginson <cls@raggedclown.net>
To:        FreeBSD Questions <FreeBSD-questions@FreeBSD.ORG>
Subject:   Re: interpretation of arp output
Message-ID:  <20021201203506.GA1424@raggedclown.net>
In-Reply-To: <20021129092555.GA64345@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophi>
References:  <20021129054715.GA869@raggedclown.net> <20021129092555.GA64345@happy-idiot-talk.infracaninophi>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
On Fri, Nov 29, 2002 at 09:25:55AM +0000, Matthew Seaman wrote:
> 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.
> 
Ok, thanks, I think it was the "?" that made me ask.
Question marks make me nervous :)

-- 
Regards
   Cliff Sarginson 
   The Netherlands

[ This mail has been checked as virus-free ]

To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20021201203506.GA1424>