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Proxy ARP

There are lots of requirements to get this to work.

  • Router needs to see the host on-link
  • Host is configured for a much larger subnet then what is actually present
  • The ARP target the host is requesting is in the routing table
  • The ARP target cannot be out the same interface the ARP was heard on

Lab topology

192.168.0.016192.168.0.024192.168.23.024HostR1R2R3.10.1.2.3

Evidences

This happens if the host is off-link for the router. The router will see the arp, but also filter it.

*May  4 20:39:31.619: IP ARP req filtered src 192.168.100.100 5254.00b7.f21b, dst 192.168.23.2 0000.0000.0000 wrong cable, interface GigabitEthernet1 tableid 0
*May  4 20:39:32.675: IP ARP req filtered src 192.168.100.100 5254.00b7.f21b, dst 192.168.23.2 0000.0000.0000 wrong cable, interface GigabitEthernet1 tableid 0

Verification

R1# show ip traffic | i proxy
        0 proxy name requests, 0 where-is requests, 0 other
  Sent: 0 address requests, 0 address replies (0 proxy)
        0 proxy name replies, 0 where-is replies
  Sent: 1 requests, 8 replies (2 proxy), 0 reverse

Captures

ARP-proxy-arp.pcap

References

Cisco - Proxy ARP

Cisco - Proxy ARP Problem

Last Modified • Friday, June 12, 2026. 3:54 am UTC+00:00 • Commit: 5f6d3fd