When Linux PC boots, Does it sends RARP packet to get its IP address by embedding its Hardware address?

I am looking into Linux PC bootup sequence, when the system comesup,
does it sends RARP packet or ARP packet to get its IP addres from its
Gateway?. Since it knows its MAC address, if it is a brand new Linux
PC, does it sends a RARP or ARP packet, also is there any relation
between ARP and ICMP packet?.

(I used to work on diskless workstation long back, it used to send RARP
packet, then somehost matches its MAC in its /etc/ethers to /etc/hosts
file and responds back with its IP addrss, then the dislless
workstation downloads its firmware). I am wondering whether the
samething can be done for Linux PC without a Harddisk to get its IP
adderess and its kernel Image?.

Is there any Linux material which provides about ARP and RARP types?.
Thanks in advance.

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
> I am looking into Linux PC bootup sequence, when the system comesup,
> does it sends RARP packet or ARP packet to get its IP addres from its
> Gateway?. Since it knows its MAC address, if it is a brand new Linux
> PC, does it sends a RARP or ARP packet, also is there any relation
> between ARP and ICMP packet?.

If you mean a diskless workstation booting up from
the network, the protocols to be used are BOOTP and
TFTP to get the kernel in and up.

The rest of the sequence depends on the setup of
the system startup. The common way of obtaining
the network settings from server uses DHCP, which
is essentially an extension of BOOTP.

For details, see the Diskless-HOWTOs in the Linux
Documentation Project.

> (I used to work on diskless workstation long back, it used to send RARP
> packet, then somehost matches its MAC in its /etc/ethers to /etc/hosts
> file and responds back with its IP addrss, then the dislless
> workstation downloads its firmware). I am wondering whether the
> samething can be done for Linux PC without a Harddisk to get its IP
> adderess and its kernel Image?.
>
> Is there any Linux material which provides about ARP and RARP types?.

RARP is seldom used nowadays.

--

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio (at) iki fi

In the Usenet newsgroup comp.os.linux.networking, in article
<(E-Mail Removed) om>,
(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

>I am looking into Linux PC bootup sequence,

43309 Nov 5 2000 From-PowerUp-To-Bash-Prompt-HOWTO

Little old, but still helpful. If you have the kernel source installed,
look in

/usr/src/linux/Documentation/initrd.txt

initrd.txt explains how the kernel gets loaded, ..., then executes /sbin/init

man init explains how /sbin.init processes the contents of /etc/inittab,
and the runlevels.

man inittab explains the layout of /etc/inittab, and the options available
for each process to be started.

>when the system comesup, does it sends RARP packet or ARP packet to get
>its IP addres from its Gateway?.

Neither. If the system is configured for static addresses, it gets the
IP and what-not from the configuration files somewhere in /etc/* (where
they are hiding depends on the distribution). If the system is configured
for DHCP (or the original BOOTP), the boot scripts cause the system to send
a broadcast UDP packet from 0.0.0.0:68 (I don't know my address) to
255.255.255.255:67 (I don't know the server address). The BOOTP or DHCP
server responds with a UDP packet with the correct IP addresses and using
the MAC address from the original query as the hardware destination. See
the DHCP mini-howto, and the various RFCs (2131 is current for DHCP).

>Since it knows its MAC address, if it is a brand new Linux PC, does it
>sends a RARP or ARP packet,

Nope

> also is there any relation between ARP and ICMP packet?.

I have no idea what you might be asking here - see RFC0792 and RFC0826.

0792 Internet Control Message Protocol. J. Postel. Sep-01-1981.
(Format: TXT=30404 bytes) (Obsoletes RFC0777) (Updated by RFC0950)
(Also STD0005) (Status: STANDARD)

0826 Ethernet Address Resolution Protocol: Or converting network
protocol addresses to 48.bit Ethernet address for transmission on
Ethernet hardware. D.C. Plummer. Nov-01-1982. (Format: TXT=22026
bytes) (Also STD0037) (Status: STANDARD)

>(I used to work on diskless workstation long back, it used to send RARP
>packet, then somehost matches its MAC in its /etc/ethers to /etc/hosts
>file and responds back with its IP addrss, then the dislless
>workstation downloads its firmware).

33671 Feb 26 2002 Diskless-root-NFS-HOWTO
44462 Sep 14 2001 Diskless-root-NFS-other-HOWTO
7565 Dec 7 2001 NCD-HOWTO
20879 Apr 26 2001 NCD-X-Terminal

The concept is still the same - it's just that it's very rarely used any more.

>Is there any Linux material which provides about ARP and RARP types?.

Linux material - no, I don't think so. See RFC0826 (above), RFC0903 and
RFC1931 (below) for further details.

0903 Reverse Address Resolution Protocol. R. Finlayson, T. Mann, J.C.
Mogul, M. Theimer. Jun-01-1984. (Format: TXT=9345 bytes) (Also
STD0038) (Status: STANDARD)

1931 Dynamic RARP Extensions for Automatic Network Address
Acquisition. D. Brownell. April 1996. (Format: TXT=27544 bytes)
(Status: INFORMATIONAL)

Many Linux distributions include a package for the RARP daemon, but it is
very rarely used any more.

Old guy