TCP / networking · Course contents
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30 min·Foundation

Answer who has this IP address

Turn an ARP request into a correctly addressed reply.

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IP needs a link-layer destination

Before sending an IPv4 packet to a local peer, a machine broadcasts an ARP request. The owner of that IP responds with its MAC address. This exercise gives your C responder the full incoming Ethernet frame.

Ethernet: 0..13 (EtherType 0x0806)
ARP: 14 htype(2), 16 ptype(2), 18 hlen(1), 19 plen(1)
20 opcode(2), 22 sender MAC(6), 28 sender IPv4(4)
32 target MAC(6), 38 target IPv4(4)

The responder contract

Support Ethernet/IPv4 only: htype=1, ptype=0x0800, hlen=6, plen=4. Return -1 for truncated or unsupported ARP headers and insufficient output capacity. Return 0 for non-ARP frames, non-request opcodes, and another target IP. For a local request, write a 60-byte zero-padded reply, opcode 2, and return 60.

Swap roles, not just fields

The requester becomes the reply's target. Our supplied MAC and IP become its sender. The Ethernet destination is the requester's ARP sender MAC. A reply must never provoke another reply; that would turn address discovery into a packet loop.

Your goal

Implement answer_arp so a configured Ethernet endpoint answers requests for its own IPv4 address and ignores requests for other hosts.

What the tests observe

  • Configured addresses
  • Correct requester/target roles
  • Other hosts ignored
  • Truncation and reply loops rejected

Need a nudge?

Hint 1

Check length >= 14 before EtherType, then length >= 42 before any ARP field. get16 reads a network-order word.

Hint 2

Use memcmp(frame + 38, local_ip, 4) to decide whether the requested address is yours.

Hint 3

Zero out 60 bytes, write Ethernet addresses/type, copy the ARP format fields, change opcode to 2, and explicitly fill all four address fields.

What happens inside Linux

The C responder builds a real ARP reply from captured request bytes. A production ARP cache remembers this mapping; this lesson isolates the exchange itself. The separate live guest wire also uses an ARP peer to connect the kernel NIC to controlled packets.

Optional account sync. Exercises work without an account.

Reference headers and helper functions

Read-only lesson support. Your editable implementation is below.

netlab.h

#ifndef NETLAB_H
#define NETLAB_H
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>

#define LAB_CAP 1600
#define LAB_MAX_FRAMES 512
#define SYN 2
#define ACK 16
#define PSH 8
#define FIN 1
#define RST 4
#define MAX_DATA 512
#define MAX_RETRIES 4

enum tcp_state { CLOSED, SYN_SENT, ESTABLISHED, FIN_WAIT1, FIN_WAIT2, CLOSING, TIME_WAIT };
struct segment { uint32_t seq, ack; unsigned flags, window, length; unsigned char data[MAX_DATA]; };
struct tcp {
    enum tcp_state state;
    uint32_t iss, snd_una, snd_nxt, rcv_nxt;
    unsigned peer_window, local_window, mss;
    unsigned char pending[MAX_DATA], delivered[2048];
    unsigned pending_len, pending_flags, delivered_len;
    uint32_t pending_seq;
    unsigned timer_active, sent_at, rto, retries, time_wait_until;
};
struct captured { unsigned char bytes[LAB_CAP]; unsigned size, time; };
static struct captured lab_frames[LAB_MAX_FRAMES];
static unsigned lab_count, lab_now, lab_failed;
static int lab_testing;
static const unsigned char lab_mac[6] = {2,0,0,0,0,1};
static const unsigned char peer_mac[6] = {2,0,0,0,0,2};
static const unsigned char lab_ip[4] = {10,0,0,1};
static const unsigned char peer_ip[4] = {10,0,0,2};
static unsigned get16(const unsigned char *p) { return ((unsigned)p[0]<<8)|p[1]; }
static uint32_t get32(const unsigned char *p) { return ((uint32_t)get16(p)<<16)|get16(p+2); }
static void put16(unsigned char *p,unsigned n) { p[0]=(n>>8)&255; p[1]=n&255; }
static void put32(unsigned char *p,uint32_t n) { put16(p,n>>16); put16(p+2,n); }
static uint32_t sum_words(const unsigned char *p,unsigned n) {
    uint32_t sum=0; unsigned i;
    for(i=0;i+1<n;i+=2) sum+=get16(p+i);
    if(n&1) sum+=(unsigned)p[n-1]<<8;
    return sum;
}
static unsigned fold_sum(uint32_t sum) { while(sum>>16) sum=(sum&65535)+(sum>>16); return sum; }
static unsigned checksum(const unsigned char *p,unsigned n) { return (~fold_sum(sum_words(p,n)))&65535; }
static unsigned transport_checksum(const unsigned char *src,const unsigned char *dst,unsigned proto,const unsigned char *p,unsigned n) {
    return (~fold_sum(sum_words(src,4)+sum_words(dst,4)+proto+n+sum_words(p,n)))&65535;
}
static void trace_frame(const char *direction,const unsigned char *p,unsigned n) {
    unsigned i; printf("LAB_PACKET|%u|%s|",lab_now,direction);
    for(i=0;i<n;i++) printf("%02x",p[i]);
    putchar('\n');
}
static void emit_frame(const unsigned char *p,unsigned n) {
    if(n>LAB_CAP || lab_count>=LAB_MAX_FRAMES) { fprintf(stderr,"Packet capture capacity exceeded\n"); lab_failed++; return; }
    memcpy(lab_frames[lab_count].bytes,p,n); lab_frames[lab_count].size=n; lab_frames[lab_count].time=lab_now;
    lab_count++; trace_frame("tx",p,n);
}
static void lab_check(int ok,const char *id,const char *good,const char *bad) {
    if(!ok) lab_failed++;
    if(lab_testing) printf("LAB_CHECK|%s|%s|%s\n",id,ok?"pass":"fail",ok?good:bad);
    else printf("%s: %s\n",ok?"ok":"needs work",ok?good:bad);
}
static void lab_reset(void) { lab_count=0; lab_now=0; }
static unsigned make_ip_frame(unsigned char *out,int from_peer,unsigned proto,const unsigned char *payload,unsigned n) {
    unsigned char *ip=out+14;
    memcpy(out,from_peer?lab_mac:peer_mac,6); memcpy(out+6,from_peer?peer_mac:lab_mac,6); put16(out+12,0x0800);
    memset(ip,0,20); ip[0]=0x45; put16(ip+2,20+n); ip[8]=64; ip[9]=proto;
    memcpy(ip+12,from_peer?peer_ip:lab_ip,4); memcpy(ip+16,from_peer?lab_ip:peer_ip,4);
    put16(ip+10,checksum(ip,20)); memcpy(ip+20,payload,n); return 34+n;
}
static unsigned make_tcp_frame(unsigned char *out,int from_peer,unsigned flags,uint32_t seq,uint32_t ack,unsigned window,const unsigned char *data,unsigned n) {
    unsigned char tcp[20+MAX_DATA];
    if(n>MAX_DATA) return 0;
    memset(tcp,0,20); put16(tcp,from_peer?8080:40000); put16(tcp+2,from_peer?40000:8080);
    put32(tcp+4,seq); put32(tcp+8,ack); tcp[12]=0x50; tcp[13]=flags; put16(tcp+14,window);
    if(n) memcpy(tcp+20,data,n);
    put16(tcp+16,transport_checksum(from_peer?peer_ip:lab_ip,from_peer?lab_ip:peer_ip,6,tcp,20+n));
    return make_ip_frame(out,from_peer,6,tcp,20+n);
}
static int decode_tcp(const unsigned char *f,unsigned n,struct segment *s) {
    unsigned ihl,total,thl,len; const unsigned char *ip,*tcp;
    if(n<54 || get16(f+12)!=0x0800) return -1;
    ip=f+14; ihl=(ip[0]&15)*4; total=get16(ip+2);
    if((ip[0]>>4)!=4 || ihl<20 || total<ihl+20 || total+14>n || ip[9]!=6 || checksum(ip,ihl)!=0) return -1;
    if(get16(ip+6)&0x3fff) return -1; /* Fragment reassembly is a separate exercise. */
    tcp=ip+ihl; thl=(tcp[12]>>4)*4;
    if(thl<20 || thl>total-ihl || transport_checksum(ip+12,ip+16,6,tcp,total-ihl)!=0) return -1;
    len=total-ihl-thl; if(len>MAX_DATA) return -1;
    s->seq=get32(tcp+4); s->ack=get32(tcp+8); s->flags=tcp[13]; s->window=get16(tcp+14); s->length=len;
    if(len) memcpy(s->data,tcp+thl,len); return 0;
}
static void emit_tcp(struct tcp *c,unsigned flags,uint32_t seq,uint32_t ack,const unsigned char *data,unsigned n) {
    unsigned char frame[LAB_CAP]; unsigned size=make_tcp_frame(frame,0,flags,seq,ack,c->local_window,data,n);
    if(size) emit_frame(frame,size);
}
static void tcp_init(struct tcp *c,uint32_t iss) {
    memset(c,0,sizeof(*c)); c->state=CLOSED; c->iss=iss; c->snd_una=c->snd_nxt=iss;
    c->local_window=256; c->peer_window=512; c->mss=MAX_DATA; c->rto=100;
}
#ifdef NETLAB_TCP
void tcp_open(struct tcp *c);
void tcp_receive(struct tcp *c,const struct segment *s);
unsigned tcp_send(struct tcp *c,const unsigned char *p,unsigned n);
void tcp_tick(struct tcp *c,unsigned now);
void tcp_close(struct tcp *c);
static void deliver(struct tcp *c,unsigned flags,uint32_t seq,uint32_t ack,unsigned window,const unsigned char *p,unsigned n) {
    unsigned char frame[LAB_CAP]; struct segment s;
    unsigned size=make_tcp_frame(frame,1,flags,seq,ack,window,p,n);
    trace_frame("rx",frame,size);
    if(decode_tcp(frame,size,&s)==0) tcp_receive(c,&s);
}
static int last_segment(struct segment *s) { return lab_count && decode_tcp(lab_frames[lab_count-1].bytes,lab_frames[lab_count-1].size,s)==0; }
static void established(struct tcp *c) { tcp_init(c,100); c->state=ESTABLISHED; c->snd_nxt=c->snd_una=101; c->rcv_nxt=501; }
static void at(struct tcp *c,unsigned now) { lab_now=now; tcp_tick(c,now); }
#endif
#endif
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