What is the purpose of the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)?

The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) plays a crucial role in computer networking by mapping IP addresses to MAC addresses. When a device wants to communicate with another device on a local network, it first needs to know the MAC address associated with the IP address of the target device. ARP helps facilitate this process by sending out a broadcast request on the network to inquire about the MAC address that corresponds to a given IP address. The device with that IP address responds with its MAC address, allowing the communicating device to create a data link layer frame that can be transmitted over the local network.

Understanding this function is essential for network communication because devices primarily operate at different layers of the OSI model—IP addresses are associated with the network layer, while MAC addresses pertain to the data link layer. By converting between these two addressing schemes, ARP enables seamless communication within the same local area network (LAN).

The other options pertain to different networking functions: resolving network names to IP addresses pertains to the Domain Name System (DNS), dynamic IP address assignment relates to the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), and network routing management involves protocols such as the Routing Information Protocol (RIP) or Open Shortest Path First (OSPF). Each of these serves distinct