“ARP Explained Like You’re 5 – Beginner-Friendly Networking”

"When computers talk over the internet, they don’t use names. They use IP addresses. But your network doesn’t know how to reach these directly – that’s where ARP comes in."

ARP stands for (address resolution protocol). ARP is used to find MAC address for a given IP address.

WHY ARP IS IMPORTANT IN OUR NETWORK?

ARP is important because it helps in local network LAN (local area network) like your wifi find each other.

IP address are used to identify devices on a network,but actually send data using MAC address.

Basically ARP translates IP address to MAC address.

💻 Real-Life Example

When your laptop connects to Wi-Fi and tries to load a website:

• Your laptop needs to talk to the Wi-Fi router (default gateway).

• It knows the IP address of the router (e.g., 192.168.1.1) but not the MAC.

• It sends an ARP request: “Who has 192.168.1.1?”

• The router replies with its MAC address.

• Now your laptop can send packets to the router using its MAC.