Adjusting the ARP Aging Timer

By default, the ARP aging timer is set at 20 minutes. In environments with many directly attached hosts, such as metro Ethernet environments, increasing the amount of time between ARP updates by configuring the ARP aging timer can improve performance in an event where having thousands of clients time out at the same time might impact packet forwarding performance. In environments where there are devices connected with lower ARP aging timers (less than 20 minutes), decreasing the ARP aging timer can improve performance by preventing the flooding of traffic toward next hops with expired ARP entries. In most environments, the default ARP aging timer value does not need to be adjusted.

To configure the system-wide ARP aging timer, include the aging-timer statement at the [edit system arp] hierarchy level:

The aging timer range is from 1 through 240 minutes. The timer value you configure takes effect as ARP entries expire. In other words, each subsequent refreshed ARP entry receives the new timer value. The new timer value does not apply to ARP entries that exist at the time you commit the configuration.

For more information about statements you can configure at the [edit system] hierarchy level, see the CLI User Guide for Junos OS.