ARPWATCH(8)		    System Manager's Manual		   ARPWATCH(8)



NAME
       arpwatch - keep track of ethernet/ip address pairings

SYNOPSIS
       arpwatch [ -dN ] [ -f datafile ] [ -i interface ]
		[ -n net[/width ]] [ -r file ] [ -u username ] [ -e username ]
       [ -s username ]

DESCRIPTION
       Arpwatch keeps track  for  ethernet/ip  address	pairings.  It  syslogs
       activity	 and reports certain changes via email.	 Arpwatch uses pcap(3)
       to listen for arp packets on a local ethernet interface.

       The -d flag is used enable debugging. This also inhibits	 forking  into
       the  background	and  emailing  the  reports. Instead, they are sent to
       stderr.

       The -f flag is used to set the ethernet/ip address  database  filename.
       The default is arp.dat.

       The -i flag is used to override the default interface.

       The  -n flag specifies additional local networks. This can be useful to
       avoid "bogon" warnings when there is more than one network  running  on
       the same wire. If the optional width is not specified, the default net-
       mask for the network's class is used.

       The -N flag disables reporting any bogons.

       The -r flag is used to specify a	 savefile  (perhaps  created  by  tcp-
       dump(1)	or  pcapture(1)) to read from instead of reading from the net-
       work. In this case, arpwatch does not fork.

       If -u flag is used, arpwatch drops root privileges and changes user  ID
       to  username  and  group	 ID  to that of the primary group of username.
       This is recommended for security reasons.

       If the -e flag is used, arpwatch	 sends	e-mail	messages  to  username
       rather than the default (root).	If a single `-' character is given for
       the username, sending of e-mail is suppressed, but logging  via	syslog
       is  still  done	as usual.  (This can be useful during initial runs, to
       collect data without being flooded with messages about new stations.)

       If the -s flag is used, arpwatch sends e-mail messages with username as
       the return address, rather than the default (root).

       Note  that  an empty arp.dat file must be created before the first time
       you run arpwatch.   Also,  the  default	directory  (where  arp.dat  is
       stored) must be owned by username if -u flag is used.

REPORT MESSAGES
       Here's  a  quick	 list  of the report messages generated by arpwatch(1)
       (and arpsnmp(1)):

       new activity
	      This ethernet/ip address pair has been used for the  first  time
	      six months or more.

       new station
	      The ethernet address has not been seen before.

       flip flop
	      The  ethernet  address  has  changed from the most recently seen
	      address to the second most recently seen	address.   (If	either
	      the  old	or  new ethernet address is a DECnet address and it is
	      less than 24 hours, the email version  of	 the  report  is  sup-
	      pressed.)

       changed ethernet address
	      The host switched to a new ethernet address.

SYSLOG MESSAGES
       Here  are  some	of  the	 syslog	 messages; note that messages that are
       reported are also sysloged.

       ethernet broadcast
	      The mac ethernet address of the host is a broadcast address.

       ip broadcast
	      The ip address of the host is a broadcast address.

       bogon  The source ip address is not local to the local subnet.

       ethernet broadcast
	      The source mac or arp ethernet  address  was  all	 ones  or  all
	      zeros.

       ethernet mismatch
	      The  source mac ethernet address didn't match the address inside
	      the arp packet.

       reused old ethernet address
	      The ethernet address has changed from  the  most	recently  seen
	      address  to  the third (or greater) least recently seen address.
	      (This is similar to a flip flop.)

       suppressed DECnet flip flop
	      A "flip flop" report was	suppressed  because  one  of  the  two
	      addresses was a DECnet address.

FILES
       /var/lib/arpwatch - default directory
       arp.dat - ethernet/ip address database
       ethercodes.dat - vendor ethernet block list

SEE ALSO
       arpsnmp(8), arp(8), bpf(4), tcpdump(1), pcapture(1), pcap(3)

AUTHORS
       Craig  Leres  of	 the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Network Re-
       search Group, University of California, Berkeley, CA.

       The current version is available via anonymous ftp:

	      ftp://ftp.ee.lbl.gov/arpwatch.tar.gz

BUGS
       Please send bug reports to arpwatch@ee.lbl.gov.

       Attempts are made to suppress DECnet flip flops but they aren't	always
       successful.

       Most error messages are posted using syslog.



4th Berkeley Distribution	8 October 2000			   ARPWATCH(8)