What does ARP stand for?

ARP stands for Address Resolution Protocol. It is a crucial network protocol used in the Internet Protocol (IP) suite. Its primary function is to map IP addresses to MAC (Media Access Control) addresses, enabling devices on a local area network (LAN) to communicate with each other.

When a device wants to communicate with another device on the same network, it needs to know the MAC address associated with the destination device's IP address. If it only has the IP address, ARP is used to send out a broadcast message on the network asking "Who has this IP address? Please send me your MAC address." The device with the corresponding IP address then replies with its MAC address, allowing the communication to proceed.

Understanding ARP is essential in the context of Dante networks, as efficient audio data transmission over Ethernet involves knowing the correct mapping of addresses to ensure seamless communication between different audio devices.