ATM Configuration and Troubleshooting Guide

Configuring a Classical IP over ATM Interface over an ATM Interface
Summary of Classical IP over ATM
Chapter 3 25
Summary of Classical IP over ATM
Switched Virtual Connections (SVCs) are established using ATM
addresses. Classical IP over ATM is a mechanism for resolving IP
addresses to ATM addresses using an ATM ARP Server, which maps IP
addresses to ATM addresses.
“Classical IP and ARP over ATM” (RFC 1577) specifies a way of allowing
IP and ARP to run over ATM. It allows some conventional IP functions to
work normally, but because it does not support broadcasts, a mechanism
has been introduced to replace ARP.
IP over Legacy LANs
In a normal IP network, a node is known by its IP address, but the actual
transmission of the packets is done using MAC addresses, so a way of
finding the MAC address corresponding to an IP address is needed. ARP
finds the MAC address corresponding to an IP address by broadcasting
an ARP request packet that contains the IP address of the destination.