What is the purpose of Inverse ARP?

What is the purpose of Inverse ARP?
A . to map a known IP address to a MAC address
B . to map a known DLCI to a MAC address
C . to map a known MAC address to an IP address
D . to map a known DLCI to an IP address
E . to map a known IP address to a SPID
F . to map a known SPID to a MAC address

View Answer

Answer: D

Explanation:

http://www.ciscopress.com/articles/article.asp?p=170741&seqNum=4

Frame-Relay (a Layer 2 protocol) uses Inverse-Arp to map a know Layer 2 Address (DLCI) to a unknow Layer 3 Address.

Dynamic Mapping

Dynamic address mapping relies on the Frame Relay Inverse Address Resolution Protocol (Inverse ARP), defined by RFC 1293, to resolve a next hop network protocol address to a local DLCI value. The Frame Relay router sends out Inverse ARP requests on its Frame Relay PVC to discover the protocol address of the remote device connected to the Frame Relay network. The responses to the Inverse ARP requests are used to populate an address-to-DLCI mapping table on the Frame Relay router or access server. The router builds and maintains this address-to-DLCI mapping table, which contains all resolved Inverse ARP requests, including both dynamic and static mapping entries.

When data needs to be transmitted to a remote destination address, the router performs a lookup on its routing table to determine whether a route to that destination address exists and the next hop address or directly connected interface to use in order to reach that destination. Subsequently, the router consults its address-to-DLCI mapping table for the local DLCI that corresponds to the next hop address. Finally, the router places the frames targeted to the remote destination on its identified outgoing local DLCI.

On Cisco routers, dynamic Inverse ARP is enabled by default for all network layer protocols enabled on the physical interface. Packets are not sent out for network layer protocols that are not enabled on the physical interface. For example, no dynamic Inverse ARP resolution is performed for IPX if ipx routing is not enabled globally and there is no active IPX address assigned to the interface. Because dynamic Inverse ARP is enabled by default, no additional Cisco IOS command is required to enable it on an interface.

Example 4-16 shows the output of the show frame-relay map privileged EXEC mode command. The addressto-DLCI mapping table displays useful information. The output of the command shows that the next hop address 172.16.1.2 is dynamically mapped to the local DLCI 102, broadcast is enabled on the interface, and the interface’s status is currently active.

NOTE

After enabling Frame Relay on the interface, the Cisco router does not perform Inverse ARP until IP routing is enabled on the router. By default, IP routing is enabled on a Cisco router. If IP routing has been turned off, enable IP routing with the ip routing command in the global configuration mode. After IP routing is enabled, the router performs Inverse ARP and begins populating the address-to-DLCI mapping table with resolved entries.