BootP and DHCP Relay Parameters

The following parameters control the Layer 3 device forwarding of BootP and DHCP requests:

• Helper address - The BootP/DHCP server IP address. You must configure the helper address on the interface that receives the BootP/DHCP requests from the client. The Layer 3 switch cannot forward a request to the server unless you configure a helper address for the server.
• Gateway address - The Layer 3 switch places the IP address of the interface that received the BootP/DHCP request in the request packet Gateway Address field (sometimes called the Router ID field). When the server responds to the request, the server sends the response as a unicast packet to the IP address in the Gateway Address field. (If the client and server are directly attached, the Gateway ID field is empty, and the server replies to the client using a unicast or broadcast packet, depending on the server.)

By default, the Layer 3 device uses the lowest-numbered IP address on the interface that receives the request as the Gateway address. You can override the default by specifying the IP address you want the device to use.

• Hop count - Each router that forwards a BootP/DHCP packet increments the hop count by one. Routers also discard a forwarded BootP/DHCP request instead of forwarding the request if the hop count is greater than the maximum number of BootP/DHCP hops allowed by the router. By default, a RUCKUS Layer 3 device forwards a BootP/DHCP request if its hop count is four or less but discards the request if the hop count is greater than four. You can change the maximum number of hops the device allows to a value from 1 through 15.