arping – ARP Level Ping Utility

arping is a network utility that sends ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) requests to discover hosts on a local network. Unlike traditional ping that uses ICMP, arping operates at Layer 2, making it effective for detecting hosts that block ICMP traffic, identifying duplicate IP addresses, and troubleshooting network issues at the data link layer.

Key Features

• ARP-Based Discovery – Detect hosts that filter ICMP packets
• Duplicate IP Detection – Find IP address conflicts on the network
• MAC Address Discovery – Identify the hardware address of hosts
• Interface Selection – Specify which network interface to use
• Gratuitous ARP – Send announcements to update ARP caches
• Timing Control – Adjust probe intervals and timeouts

Installation

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install arping

# RHEL/CentOS/Fedora
sudo dnf install arping

# Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S arping

Common Usage Examples

# Basic arping
sudo arping 192.168.1.1

# Specify interface
sudo arping -I eth0 192.168.1.1

# Send specific count
sudo arping -c 5 192.168.1.1

# Detect duplicate IPs
sudo arping -D 192.168.1.100

# Find MAC for an IP
sudo arping -c 1 10.0.0.1 | grep "reply from"

# Gratuitous ARP
sudo arping -U -I eth0 192.168.1.50

Use Cases

arping is invaluable for network troubleshooting, discovering hosts behind firewalls, detecting IP conflicts, verifying network connectivity at Layer 2, and updating ARP caches after IP changes.

Download arping