ARPFETCH(8)

📦 version 2.1a15, in debian bookworm, debian trixie, ubuntu jammy, ubuntu noble, ubuntu questing, ubuntu resolute, ubuntu stonking

💖 ARPFETCH(8) — system manager's manual, section 8, bestie 💖

okay so first of all, welcome to the System Manager's Manual, section 8, which is where all the admin-y stuff lives. this is arpfetch, and she's a little legend. let's go 🦋

✨ NAME ✨

arpfetch — obtain ethernet/ip address pairings via snmp

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

arpfetch host cname

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so what does arpfetch actually do? she gets pairings between ip addresses and the ethernet address of the corresponding network card. pairings = ip + ethernet address, glued together, iconic. 💅

these pairings get retrieved from other network entities — like routers, bestie, routers are everywhere — by the SNMP protocol, using snmpwalk(1). so yeah, arpfetch is out here interrogating routers and they just... tell her. no cap.

mostly, this program is an agent that is used to get data for arpsnmp(8). she's the plug, arpsnmp(8) is the customer, and honestly the whole operation is giving supply chain. 🎀

and the way that this fetching of address mappings can be further automated?? by use of bihourly(8). literally set it and forget it. obsessed. ✨

both command arguments must be present for proper operation. BOTH. she's not doing guesswork, she's not filling in blanks, she needs both or she's not playing. 🙈
  • host — the hostname of the network entity being queried. who are we asking? this one.
  • cname — the SNMP community name of the network entity. the password-ish vibe, iykyk. 🤫

the information is presented on stdout in a format compatible with arpsnmp(8) and arpwatch(8). so it just... prints it. clean, formatted, ready to be consumed by her two besties. 🌸

further information about SNMP can be found in snmpcmd(1) and variables(5). go read those if you want the deep lore. 📚

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

the whole friend group, fr fr. 🫶

✨ BUGS ✨

please send bug reports to arpwatch@ee.lbl.gov.

yes bestie, actual bugs. not the cute ladybug kind. if she's misbehaving, email the address, don't just suffer in silence. 😭

✨ AUTHORS ✨

Craig Leres of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Network Research Group, University of California, Berkeley, CA. legend behaviour, honestly. 👑

the current version is available via anonymous ftp:

ftp://ftp.ee.lbl.gov/arpwatch.tar.gz

go grab it, it's right there. 🧚

this manual page was contributed by Hugo Graumann. thank you Hugo, you ate. 🌈

and that's the whole page!! no date stamp on this one, just the classic System Manager's Manual header up top and ARPFETCH(8) holding it down at the bottom. section 8, system manager's manual, that's the whole energy. periodt. 💖✨🎀

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