Which protocol is responsible for building the ARP table used in a network?

The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) is specifically designed to map IP addresses to MAC (Media Access Control) addresses within a local area network. When a device wants to communicate with another device on the same network, it needs to know the MAC address associated with the IP address it is trying to reach. ARP facilitates this by broadcasting a request for the MAC address associated with a specific IP address.

When a device sends an ARP request, it essentially asks, “Who has this IP address? Please send me your MAC address.” The device that owns that IP address responds with an ARP reply, providing its MAC address. This process allows devices to build an ARP table (or cache), which is a temporary table containing pairs of IP addresses and their corresponding MAC addresses. This table is then used by the device to send frames to the correct hardware address, facilitating communication.

In contrast, other protocols mentioned have different functions: the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) is mainly used for error reporting and diagnostics; the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is responsible for dynamically assigning IP addresses to devices on the network; and the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is a transport layer protocol that ensures reliable communication between devices. None of these protocols directly