Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
RFC 1541
Document | Type |
RFC - Proposed Standard
(October 1993; No errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 2131
Obsoletes RFC 1531
|
|
---|---|---|---|
Author | Ralph Droms | ||
Last updated | 2013-03-02 | ||
Stream | Legacy | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized bibtex | ||
Stream | Legacy state | (None) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
RFC Editor Note | (None) | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 1541 (Proposed Standard) | |
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | (None) | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Network Working Group R. Droms Request for Comments: 1541 Bucknell University Obsoletes: 1531 October 1993 Category: Standards Track Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Status of this memo This RFC specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Abstract The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) provides a framework for passing configuration information to hosts on a TCP/IP network. DHCP is based on the Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP) [7], adding the capability of automatic allocation of reusable network addresses and additional configuration options [19]. DHCP captures the behavior of BOOTP relay agents [7, 23], and DHCP participants can interoperate with BOOTP participants [9]. Due to some errors introduced into RFC 1531 in the editorial process, this memo is reissued as RFC 1541. Table of Contents 1. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 1.1 Related Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.2 Problem definition and issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 1.3 Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1.4 Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 1.5 Design goals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2. Protocol Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2.1 Configuration parameters repository . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2.2 Dynamic allocation of network addresses . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3. The Client-Server Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3.1 Client-server interaction - allocating a network address. . . 12 3.2 Client-server interaction - reusing a previously allocated network address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 3.3 Interpretation and representation of time values. . . . . . . 19 3.4 Host parameters in DHCP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.5 Use of DHCP in clients with multiple interfaces . . . . . . . 20 3.6 When clients should use DHCP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 4. Specification of the DHCP client-server protocol . . . . . . . 21 Droms [Page 1] RFC 1541 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol October 1993 4.1 Constructing and sending DHCP messages. . . . . . . . . . . . 21 4.2 DHCP server administrative controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 4.3 DHCP server behavior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 4.3.1 DHCPDISCOVER message. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 4.3.2 DHCPREQUEST message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 4.3.3 DHCPDECLINE message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 4.3.4 DHCPRELEASE message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 4.4 DHCP client behavior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 4.4.1 Initialization and allocation of network address. . . . . . 29 4.4.2 Initialization with known network address . . . . . . . . . 33 4.4.3 Initialization with a known DHCP server address . . . . . . 34 4.4.4 Reacquisition and expiration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 4.4.5 DHCPRELEASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 5. Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 6. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 7. Security Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 8. Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 A. Host Configuration Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 List of Figures 1. Format of a DHCP message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 2. Format of the 'flags' field. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 3. Timeline diagram of messages exchanged between DHCP client and servers when allocating a new network address. . . . . . . . . 15 4. Timeline diagram of messages exchanged between DHCP client and servers when reusing a previously allocated network address. . 18 5. State-transition diagram for DHCP clients. . . . . . . . . . . 31 List of Tables 1. Description of fields in a DHCP message. . . . . . . . . . . . 14 2. DHCP messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 3. Fields and options used by DHCP servers. . . . . . . . . . . . 25 4. Fields and options used by DHCP clients. . . . . . . . . . . . 32 1. Introduction The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) provides configuration parameters to Internet hosts. DHCP consists of two components: a protocol for delivering host-specific configuration parameters from aShow full document text