Enabling Proxy ARP Globally

Proxy ARP enables the Layer 3 switches to respond to ARP requests for devices on one network on behalf of devices in another network.

ARP requests are MAC-layer broadcasts; they reach only the devices that are directly connected to the sender of the ARP request. Thus, ARP requests do not cross routers. Proxy ARP is disabled by default on RUCKUS Layer 3 switches.

For example, if proxy ARP is enabled on a Layer 3 switch connected to two subnets, 10.10.10.0/24 and 10.20.20.0/24, the Layer 3 switch can respond to an ARP request from 10.10.10.69 for the MAC address of the device with IP address 10.20.20.69. In standard ARP, a request from a device in the 10.10.10.0/24 subnet cannot reach a device in the 10.20.20.0/24 subnet if the subnets are on different network cables, and thus is not answered.

Note: Enabling Proxy ARP globally is not supported on RUCKUS Layer 2 switches.
  1. Enter global configuration mode. 
    device# configure terminal
  2. Enable proxy ARP using the following command. 
    device(config)# ip proxy-arp
Parent topic: ARP Parameter Configuration