RARPD(8)

NAME
rarpd - reverse address resolution protocol daemon

SYNOPSIS
rarpd [-d]

DESCRIPTION
Rarpd listens on the ethernet for broadcast packets asking for reverse address resolution. These packets are sent by hosts at boot time to find out their IP address. Rarpd looks up the six octet ethernet number in the /etc/ethers file finding a host name. This name is translated to the IP address of the host by a DNS lookup. The IP address is then sent to the host.

The first thing rarpd does when started is to send an unsolicited RARP reply to the local host if it can be found in the /etc/hosts file. This way the host gets to know its IP address at boot time even if no other RARP server is present. Note that the hostname must be found in the hosts file by an exact match. The DNS is not yet running, so it can't translate a simple name to a fully qualified name.

Warning! Sun diskless workstations assume that the first RARP server that answers is the host they are to boot from. For this to work all other Sun RARP servers delay their answer if they are not also the requestors boot server. The Minix rarpd does not have this kludge so it will happily engage the Sun boot server to see who can answer the client first. Unless your Minix host can actually serve a Sun diskless client, it is better not to list any more hosts in the ethers file than necessary.

OPTIONS

-d  Turns on debugging messages.

SEE ALSO
ifconfig(8), ethers(5), hosts(5), set_net_default(8), boot(8), inetd(8), irdpd(8), nonamed(8).

AUTHOR
Kees J. Bot (kjb@cs.vu.nl)