address mapping

Address mapping is the mapping of one address into another address system. Address mapping is used to translate addresses of one protocol into addresses of another protocol so that facilities using two different protocols can communicate with each other.

Address mapping can be used to translate complex hierarchical address structures to local address syntax without requiring the user to know anything about the different address syntax of the foreign system. For example, address mapping is used in Address Resolution Protocol( ARP) to map IP addresses to the correct hardware addresses. Other examples are the mapping of the EPC code toIPv6 addresses, the mapping of the Data Country Code( DCC) to the ATM address or the conversion of 802.15.4 addresses to IPv6.

In address mapping, a distinction is made between static and dynamic address mapping. In static address mapping, the network administrator creates address tables for all computers connected to the network. In these tables, the IP addresses (32 bits) are permanently assigned to the corresponding MAC addresses (48 bits) of the hardware components. This procedure has the advantage that only known communication paths can be used, which are specified by the table entry. Static address mapping with manual table maintenance becomes error-prone and problematic as the network grows and moves. The more common method for address mapping is dynamic table maintenance, which uses Address Resolution Protocol (ARP). In this method, address mapping is performed automatically at regular intervals. Another method is NAT, Network Address Translation (NAT), which maps IPv4 addresses of a private network to public IPv4 addresses of the Internet or IPv6 addresses.