Instead of mapping a hardwar e address to a known IP address, Reverse ARP (RARP) maps an IP address
to a known hardware address. Some devices, such as diskless workstations, may not know their IP
address at startup. RARP may be programmed into firmware on these devices, allowing them to issue an
ARP Request that has their burned-in hardware address. The reply from a RARP server will supply the
appropriate IP address.
RARP is being largely supplanted by Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP) and its extension Dynamic Host
Configuration Protocol (DHCP), both of which can provide more information than the IP address, and
which, unlike RARP, can be routed off the local data link.