Smdn.Net.AddressResolution

Smdn.Net.AddressResolution provides APIs for resolving between IP addresses and MAC addresses, mainly through the MacAddressResolver class.

MacAddressResolver class performs address resolution by referencing the system's address table (e.g., ARP table). Address tables are referenced via the IAddressTable interface and its implementations (Smdn.Net.AddressTables namespace). MacAddressResolver resolves to the appropriate address based on the address cache retrieved from the address table and its cache status.

This library also provides network scanning APIs. These APIs can be used to update the address table before performing address resolution or in cases when the address is unresolvable, unreachable, etc. Network scanning can be performed via the the INetworkScanner interface using with the MacAddressResolver class.

The specific implementation of INetworkScanner invokes functions for each platform, such as nmap or arp-scan command (Smdn.Net.NetworkScanning namespace). If these implementation are not available, a fallback implementation can be used that sends ping using the Ping class.

Usage

First, add <PackageReference> to the project file.

  <ItemGroup>
    <PackageReference Include="Smdn.Net.AddressResolution" Version="1.*" />
  </ItemGroup>

Then write the code like below. This code resolves MAC address corresponding to the IP address.

using System;
using System.Net;
using Smdn.Net;
using Smdn.Net.AddressResolution;

using var resolver = new MacAddressResolver(IPNetworkProfile.Create());

// Resolve MAC address corresponding to the IP address.
var targetIPAddress = IPAddress.Parse("192.0.2.1");
var resolvedMacAddress = await resolver.ResolveIPAddressToMacAddressAsync(targetIPAddress);

For a more detailed example, see this example.

IPNetworkProfile specifies the network interface and address range for the address resolution. If no parameter is specified, the first available network interface found is used by default. For more information on this feature, see this example or this example.

If there is no corresponding entry in the address table, null is returned as the result of address resolution. The address table can be updated by performing a network scan prior to address resolution. For more information about network scanning, see this example.

See the projects in the examples directory for more usages.

Implementations and limitations

The following is as of version 1.0.0.

It has been well tested and confirmed on Linux. It has been tested on other platforms, it is still not enough to confirm that it works fine.

IPv4/IPv6

IPv4 is supported and well tested.

IPv6 can be used on the API, but due to lack of implementation, exceptions such as NotImplementedException or NotSupportedException may be thrown.

Address table (ARP cache, neighbor cache)

OS	API	Status
Windows	IP Helper API(IPHLPAPI)	Supported
Linux	/proc/net/arp	Supported
Linux	/proc/net/ipv6_route	Planning
macOS	-	Planning

Operations that require administrator privileges, such as flushing the ARP cache or adding/deleting static entries, are not supported and will not be supported.

These implementations are in the Smdn.Net.AddressTables namespace.

Network scanning

OS	API/Command	Status	Note
Windows	IP Helper API(IPHLPAPI)	Supported	-
(any)	nmap command	Supported	Recommended
(any)	arp-scan command	Supported	Requires administrator privileges
(any)	Ping class (ping command)	Supported	Default fallback implementation

To perform a network scan using the commands above, the command must be installed on your system and the PATH environment variable must be set.

These implementations are in the Smdn.Net.NetworkScanning namespace.

For contributers

Contributions are appreciated!

If there's a feature you would like to add or a bug you would like to fix, please read Contribution guidelines and create an Issue or Pull Request.

IssueやPull Requestを送る際は、Contribution guidelinesをご覧頂ください。　可能なら英語が望ましいですが、日本語で構いません。

Notice

This project is licensed under the terms of the MIT License.

This project uses the following components. See ThirdPartyNotices.md for detail.

• Vanara.PInvoke.IpHlpApi (https://github.com/dahall/vanara)