Palo Alto Networks (PANW) Certified Cybersecurity Entry-level Technician (PCCET) Practice Exam

How does ARP translate logical addresses?

1. IPv6 to IPv4 logical addresses

2. IPv4 to IPv6 logical addresses

3. IPv4 to MAC addresses

4. IPv6 to MAC addresses

The correct answer is: IPv4 to MAC addresses

ARP, or Address Resolution Protocol, is specifically designed to translate logical addresses, such as IPv4 addresses, into physical addresses like MAC addresses. In a typical networking scenario, when a device needs to communicate with another device on the same local network, it must know the physical address (MAC address) of the target device. If the initiator only knows the logical address (IPv4) of the target, it uses ARP to discover the MAC address associated with that IPv4 address. When a device sends out an ARP request, it broadcasts a packet on the local network asking the device that owns the requested IPv4 address to respond with its MAC address. Once the MAC address is obtained, the initiating device can then send data frames to the target device using the correct physical address. This process is crucial for network communication within a local area network (LAN), as the data link layer requires the MAC address to send frames over Ethernet or similar technologies. Hence, the correctness of this answer lies in ARP's precise role in facilitating communication by resolving the association between IPv4 addresses and MAC addresses.