Anytime a node has an IF datagram to send to another node in a link, it has the IP address
of the receiving node. The source host knows the IF address of the default router. Each
router except the last one in the path gets the IP address of the next router by using its forwarding table. The last router knows the IP address of the destination host. However, the
IP address of the next node is not helpful in moving a frame through a link; we need the
link-layer address of the next node. This is the time when the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) becomes helpful. The ARP protocol is one of the auxiliary protocols defined
in the network layer, as shown in Figure 9.6. It belongs to the network layer, but we discuss it in this chapter because it maps an IP address to a logical-link address. ARP accepts
an IP address from the IP protocol, maps the address to the corresponding link-layer
address, and passes it to the data-link layer.