How do I access ARP-protocol information through .NET?

Question

I try to figure out which devices are online and which are offline in our LAN.
I have seen many programs doing a kind of graphical network overview, presenting LAN IP and MAC addresses.

I would like to know if and how those (ARP?) information can be pulled from C#/.NET ?

Answer 1

If you know which devices are out there you can use the Ping Class. This will allow you to at least fill up the ARP table. You can always execute ARP -a and parse the output if you have to. Here is also a link that shows how to pinvoke to call GetIpNetTable. I have included examples below of Ping Class and how to access the ARP table using the GetIpNetTable.

This is an example for the Ping Class

using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.NetworkInformation;
using System.Text;

namespace Examples.System.Net.NetworkInformation.PingTest
{
    public class PingExample
    {
        // args[0] can be an IPaddress or host name.
        public static void Main (string[] args)
        {
            Ping pingSender = new Ping ();
            PingOptions options = new PingOptions ();

            // Use the default Ttl value which is 128,
            // but change the fragmentation behavior.
            options.DontFragment = true;

            // Create a buffer of 32 bytes of data to be transmitted.
            string data = "aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa";
            byte[] buffer = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes (data);
            int timeout = 120;
            PingReply reply = pingSender.Send (args[0], timeout, buffer, options);
            if (reply.Status == IPStatus.Success)
            {
                Console.WriteLine ("Address: {0}", reply.Address.ToString ());
                Console.WriteLine ("RoundTrip time: {0}", reply.RoundtripTime);
                Console.WriteLine ("Time to live: {0}", reply.Options.Ttl);
                Console.WriteLine ("Don't fragment: {0}", reply.Options.DontFragment);
                Console.WriteLine ("Buffer size: {0}", reply.Buffer.Length);
            }
        }
    }
}

This is an example of the GetIpNetTable.

using System;
using System.Runtime.InteropServices;
using System.ComponentModel; 
using System.Net;

namespace GetIpNetTable
{
   class Program
   {
      // The max number of physical addresses.
      const int MAXLEN_PHYSADDR = 8;

      // Define the MIB_IPNETROW structure.
      [StructLayout(LayoutKind.Sequential)]
      struct MIB_IPNETROW
      {
         [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)]
         public int dwIndex;
         [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)]
         public int dwPhysAddrLen;
         [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U1)]
         public byte mac0;
         [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U1)]
         public byte mac1;
         [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U1)]
         public byte mac2;
         [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U1)]
         public byte mac3;
         [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U1)]
         public byte mac4;
         [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U1)]
         public byte mac5;
         [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U1)]
         public byte mac6;
         [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U1)]
         public byte mac7;
         [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)]
         public int dwAddr;
         [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)]
         public int dwType;
      }

      // Declare the GetIpNetTable function.
      [DllImport("IpHlpApi.dll")]
      [return: MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)]
      static extern int GetIpNetTable(
         IntPtr pIpNetTable,
         [MarshalAs(UnmanagedType.U4)]
         ref int pdwSize,
         bool bOrder);

      [DllImport("IpHlpApi.dll", SetLastError = true, CharSet = CharSet.Auto)]
      internal static extern int FreeMibTable(IntPtr plpNetTable);

      // The insufficient buffer error.
      const int ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER = 122;

      static void Main(string[] args)
      {
         // The number of bytes needed.
         int bytesNeeded = 0;

         // The result from the API call.
         int result = GetIpNetTable(IntPtr.Zero, ref bytesNeeded, false);

         // Call the function, expecting an insufficient buffer.
         if (result != ERROR_INSUFFICIENT_BUFFER)
         {
            // Throw an exception.
            throw new Win32Exception(result);
         }

         // Allocate the memory, do it in a try/finally block, to ensure
         // that it is released.
         IntPtr buffer = IntPtr.Zero;

         // Try/finally.
         try
         {
            // Allocate the memory.
            buffer = Marshal.AllocCoTaskMem(bytesNeeded);

            // Make the call again. If it did not succeed, then
            // raise an error.
            result = GetIpNetTable(buffer, ref bytesNeeded, false);

            // If the result is not 0 (no error), then throw an exception.
            if (result != 0)
            {
               // Throw an exception.
               throw new Win32Exception(result);
            }

            // Now we have the buffer, we have to marshal it. We can read
            // the first 4 bytes to get the length of the buffer.
            int entries = Marshal.ReadInt32(buffer);

            // Increment the memory pointer by the size of the int.
            IntPtr currentBuffer = new IntPtr(buffer.ToInt64() +
               Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(int)));

            // Allocate an array of entries.
            MIB_IPNETROW[] table = new MIB_IPNETROW[entries];

            // Cycle through the entries.
            for (int index = 0; index < entries; index++)
            {
               // Call PtrToStructure, getting the structure information.
               table[index] = (MIB_IPNETROW) Marshal.PtrToStructure(new
                  IntPtr(currentBuffer.ToInt64() + (index *
                  Marshal.SizeOf(typeof(MIB_IPNETROW)))), typeof(MIB_IPNETROW));
            }

            for (int index = 0; index < entries; index++)
            {
               MIB_IPNETROW row = table[index];
               IPAddress ip=new IPAddress(BitConverter.GetBytes(row.dwAddr));
               Console.Write("IP:"+ip.ToString()+"\t\tMAC:");

               Console.Write( row.mac0.ToString("X2") + '-');
               Console.Write( row.mac1.ToString("X2") + '-');
               Console.Write( row.mac2.ToString("X2") + '-');
               Console.Write( row.mac3.ToString("X2") + '-');
               Console.Write( row.mac4.ToString("X2") + '-');
               Console.WriteLine( row.mac5.ToString("X2"));

            }
         }
         finally
         {
            // Release the memory.
            FreeMibTable(buffer);
         }
      }
   }
}