Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP) is a network protocol used by a client device on a Local Area Network (LAN) to request its Internet Protocol (IP) address from a server. The client broadcasts a RARP request packet, which contains its own unique Media Access Control (MAC) address. A designated RARP server on the network receives this request, looks up the MAC address in its configuration table, and replies with the corresponding IP address. This mechanism was historically used by diskless workstations or other devices at boot time to discover their IP address when they only knew their hardware address.

B. Address resolution protocol (ARP): ARP performs the opposite function; it resolves a known IP address to an unknown MAC address (IP -> MAC).
C. Data link layer: This is Layer 2 of the OSI model. It is a conceptual layer, not a specific protocol that resolves a MAC address to an IP address.
D. Network address translation (NAT): NAT is a method for remapping IP addresses, typically between a private LAN and a public network (like the Internet), not for local address discovery.

1. Finlayson

R.

Mann

T.

Mogul

J.

& Theimer

M. (1984). RFC 903: A Reverse Address Resolution Protocol. IETF. The abstract states

"This RFC describes a protocol for allowing a host to discover its Internet address when it knows only its hardware address."

2. Comer

D. E. (2018). Internetworking with TCP/IP Volume 1: Principles

Protocols

and Architecture (6th ed.). Pearson. In Chapter 6

"Mapping Internet Addresses To Physical Addresses (ARP)

" the text contrasts ARP with RARP

explicitly stating RARP's purpose: "A host uses RARP to find its IP address when it knows its hardware address" (Section 6.10

RARP).

3. Tanenbaum

A. S.

& Wetherall

D. J. (2011). Computer Networks (5th ed.). Prentice Hall. In Chapter 5

"The Network Layer

" Section 5.6.3

the text describes ARP and its inverse

RARP

noting that RARP allows a host to broadcast its Ethernet address and ask for someone to tell it the corresponding IP address.