Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP) is a protocol used to resolve an IP address from a given hardware address (such as an Ethernet address). The primary limitations are that each MAC must be manually configured on a central server, and it is limited to only the IP address, leaving subnetting, gateways, and other information to be configured by hand. It is now obsoleted by BOOTP and the more modern DHCP, which both support a much greater feature set than RARP.

Another disadvantage with RARP compared to BOOTP or DHCP is the fact that it is a non-IP protocol. This means that it can't be handled with the TCP/IP stack already present on the client computer. Thus the client must have special functionality in order to handle the raw RARP packet.

RARP is the complement of ARP. RARP is described in RFC 903

See also

• DHCP
• BOOTP
• ARP

External links

• RFC 903
• RARPd Server

Internet protocols | Internet standards

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