DHCPv4 Overview

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv4 (DHCPv4) enables DHCP servers to pass configuration parameters such as IPv4 addresses to IPv4 hosts.

On FastIron devices, you can configure Dynamic ARP Inspection, DHCPv4 snooping, and IP Source Guard together. The RUCKUS implementation of these features provides enhanced network security by filtering untrusted DHCP packets.

DHCP is based on the Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP) and provides configuration parameters such as IP addresses, default routes, DNS server addresses, access control, QoS policies, and security policies stored in DHCP server databases to DHCP clients upon request. DHCP enables the automatic configuration of client systems. DHCP removes the need to configure devices individually. Clients can set network properties by connecting to the DHCP server instead. This protocol consists of two components; a protocol to deliver host-specific configuration parameters from a DHCP server to a host, and a mechanism to allocate network addresses to hosts.

DHCP is built on a client-server model, where designated DHCP server hosts allocate network addresses and deliver configuration parameters to dynamically configured client hosts.

Parent topic: DHCPv4