Media Access Control (MAC) Addresses and Address Resolution Protocol
An IP address alone cannot be used to deliver data from one LAN device to another. To send data between LAN devices, you must convert the IP address of the destination device to its MAC address. Each device on an Ethernet network has a unique MAC address, which is a 48-bit number assigned to each device by the manufacturer. The technique that associates the IP address with a MAC address is known as address resolution. Internet Protocol uses the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) to resolve MAC addresses.
If a device sends data to another station on the network and the destination MAC address is not yet recorded, ARP is used. An ARP request is broadcast onto the network. All stations (computers, for example) on the network receive and read the request. The destination IP address for the chosen station is included as part of the message so that only the station with this IP address responds to the ARP request. All other stations discard the request.
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