2.2. Proxy ARP

2.2. Proxy ARP

Occasionally, an IP network must be split into separate segments. Proxy ARP can be used for increased control over packets exchanged between two hosts or to limit exposure between two hosts in a single IP network. The technique of proxy ARP is commonly used to interpose a device with higher layer functionality between two other hosts. From a practical standpoint, there is little difference between the functions of a packet-filtering bridge and a firewall performing proxy ARP. The manner by which the interposed device receives the packets, however, is tremendously different.

Example 2.10. Proxy ARP Network Diagram

The device performing proxy ARP (masq-gw) responds for all ARP queries on behalf of IPs reachable on interfaces other than the interface on which the query arrives.

 

 

 

 

 

FIXME; manual proxy ARP (see also Section 9.3, “Breaking a network in two with proxy ARP”), kernel proxy ARP, and the newly supported sysctl net/ipv4/conf/$DEV/medium_id.

For a brief description of the use of medium_id, see Julian's remarks.

FIXME; Kernel proxy ARP with the sysctl net/ipv4/conf/$DEV/proxy_arp.

Note....until this section is written, this post by Don Cohen is rather instructive.