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rfc:rfc2131

Network Working Group R. Droms Request for Comments: 2131 Bucknell University Obsoletes: 1541 March 1997 Category: Standards Track

                Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

Status of this memo

 This document 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" (STD 1) 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 TCPIP 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, 21], and DHCP participants can interoperate
 with BOOTP participants [9].

Table of Contents

 1.  Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
 1.1 Changes to RFC1541. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
 1.2 Related Work. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
 1.3 Problem definition and issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
 1.4 Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
 1.5 Terminology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
 1.6 Design goals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
 2.  Protocol Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
 2.1 Configuration parameters repository . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
 2.2 Dynamic allocation of network addresses . . . . . . . . . . . 12
 3.  The Client-Server Protocol. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
 3.1 Client-server interaction - allocating a network address. . . 13
 3.2 Client-server interaction - reusing a  previously allocated
     network address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
 3.3 Interpretation and representation of time values. . . . . . . 20
 3.4 Obtaining parameters with externally configured network
     address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
 3.5 Client parameters in DHCP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
 3.6 Use of DHCP in clients with multiple interfaces . . . . . . . 22
 3.7 When clients should use DHCP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
 4.  Specification of the DHCP client-server protocol. . . . . . . 22

Droms Standards Track [Page 1] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 4.1 Constructing and sending DHCP messages. . . . . . . . . . . . 22
 4.2 DHCP server administrative controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
 4.3 DHCP server behavior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
 4.4 DHCP client behavior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
 5.  Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
 6.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42
 7.  Security Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
 8.  Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
 A.  Host Configuration Parameters  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45

List of Figures

 1. Format of a DHCP message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
 2. Format of the 'flags' field. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
 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. . . . . . . . . . . 34

List of Tables

 1. Description of fields in a DHCP message. . . . . . . . . . . . 10
 2. DHCP messages. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
 3. Fields and options used by DHCP servers. . . . . . . . . . . . 28
 4. Client messages from various states. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
 5. Fields and options used by DHCP clients. . . . . . . . . . . . 37

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 a
 DHCP server to a host and a mechanism for allocation of 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 hosts.  Throughout the remainder of this
 document, the term "server" refers to a host providing initialization
 parameters through DHCP, and the term "client" refers to a host
 requesting initialization parameters from a DHCP server.
 A host should not act as a DHCP server unless explicitly configured
 to do so by a system administrator.  The diversity of hardware and
 protocol implementations in the Internet would preclude reliable
 operation if random hosts were allowed to respond to DHCP requests.
 For example, IP requires the setting of many parameters within the
 protocol implementation software.  Because IP can be used on many
 dissimilar kinds of network hardware, values for those parameters
 cannot be guessed or assumed to have correct defaults.  Also,
 distributed address allocation schemes depend on a polling/defense

Droms Standards Track [Page 2] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 mechanism for discovery of addresses that are already in use.  IP
 hosts may not always be able to defend their network addresses, so
 that such a distributed address allocation scheme cannot be
 guaranteed to avoid allocation of duplicate network addresses.
 DHCP supports three mechanisms for IP address allocation.  In
 "automatic allocation", DHCP assigns a permanent IP address to a
 client.  In "dynamic allocation", DHCP assigns an IP address to a
 client for a limited period of time (or until the client explicitly
 relinquishes the address).  In "manual allocation", a client's IP
 address is assigned by the network administrator, and DHCP is used
 simply to convey the assigned address to the client.  A particular
 network will use one or more of these mechanisms, depending on the
 policies of the network administrator.
 Dynamic allocation is the only one of the three mechanisms that
 allows automatic reuse of an address that is no longer needed by the
 client to which it was assigned.  Thus, dynamic allocation is
 particularly useful for assigning an address to a client that will be
 connected to the network only temporarily or for sharing a limited
 pool of IP addresses among a group of clients that do not need
 permanent IP addresses.  Dynamic allocation may also be a good choice
 for assigning an IP address to a new client being permanently
 connected to a network where IP addresses are sufficiently scarce
 that it is important to reclaim them when old clients are retired.
 Manual allocation allows DHCP to be used to eliminate the error-prone
 process of manually configuring hosts with IP addresses in
 environments where (for whatever reasons) it is desirable to manage
 IP address assignment outside of the DHCP mechanisms.
 The format of DHCP messages is based on the format of BOOTP messages,
 to capture the BOOTP relay agent behavior described as part of the
 BOOTP specification [7, 21] and to allow interoperability of existing
 BOOTP clients with DHCP servers.  Using BOOTP relay agents eliminates
 the necessity of having a DHCP server on each physical network
 segment.

1.1 Changes to RFC 1541

 This document updates the DHCP protocol specification that appears in
 RFC1541.  A new DHCP message type, DHCPINFORM, has been added; see
 section 3.4, 4.3 and 4.4 for details.  The classing mechanism for
 identifying DHCP clients to DHCP servers has been extended to include
 "vendor" classes as defined in sections 4.2 and 4.3.  The minimum
 lease time restriction has been removed.  Finally, many editorial
 changes have been made to clarify the text as a result of experience
 gained in DHCP interoperability tests.

Droms Standards Track [Page 3] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

1.2 Related Work

 There are several Internet protocols and related mechanisms that
 address some parts of the dynamic host configuration problem.  The
 Reverse Address Resolution Protocol (RARP) [10] (through the
 extensions defined in the Dynamic RARP (DRARP) [5]) explicitly
 addresses the problem of network address discovery, and includes an
 automatic IP address assignment mechanism.  The Trivial File Transfer
 Protocol (TFTP) [20] provides for transport of a boot image from a
 boot server.  The Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) [16]
 provides for informing hosts of additional routers via "ICMP
 redirect" messages.  ICMP also can provide subnet mask information
 through the "ICMP mask request" message and other information through
 the (obsolete) "ICMP information request" message.  Hosts can locate
 routers through the ICMP router discovery mechanism [8].
 BOOTP is a transport mechanism for a collection of configuration
 information.  BOOTP is also extensible, and official extensions [17]
 have been defined for several configuration parameters.  Morgan has
 proposed extensions to BOOTP for dynamic IP address assignment [15].
 The Network Information Protocol (NIP), used by the Athena project at
 MIT, is a distributed mechanism for dynamic IP address assignment
 [19].  The Resource Location Protocol RLP [1] provides for location
 of higher level services.  Sun Microsystems diskless workstations use
 a boot procedure that employs RARP, TFTP and an RPC mechanism called
 "bootparams" to deliver configuration information and operating
 system code to diskless hosts.  (Sun Microsystems, Sun Workstation
 and SunOS are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc.)  Some Sun
 networks also use DRARP and an auto-installation mechanism to
 automate the configuration of new hosts in an existing network.
 In other related work, the path minimum transmission unit (MTU)
 discovery algorithm can determine the MTU of an arbitrary internet
 path [14].  The Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) has been proposed
 as a transport protocol for resource location and selection [6].
 Finally, the Host Requirements RFCs [3, 4] mention specific
 requirements for host reconfiguration and suggest a scenario for
 initial configuration of diskless hosts.

1.3 Problem definition and issues

 DHCP is designed to supply DHCP clients with the configuration
 parameters defined in the Host Requirements RFCs.  After obtaining
 parameters via DHCP, a DHCP client should be able to exchange packets
 with any other host in the Internet.  The TCP/IP stack parameters
 supplied by DHCP are listed in Appendix A.

Droms Standards Track [Page 4] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 Not all of these parameters are required for a newly initialized
 client.  A client and server may negotiate for the transmission of
 only those parameters required by the client or specific to a
 particular subnet.
 DHCP allows but does not require the configuration of client
 parameters not directly related to the IP protocol.  DHCP also does
 not address registration of newly configured clients with the Domain
 Name System (DNS) [12, 13].
 DHCP is not intended for use in configuring routers.

1.4 Requirements

 Throughout this document, the words that are used to define the
 significance of particular requirements are capitalized.  These words
 are:
    o "MUST"
      This word or the adjective "REQUIRED" means that the
      item is an absolute requirement of this specification.
    o "MUST NOT"
      This phrase means that the item is an absolute prohibition
      of this specification.
    o "SHOULD"
      This word or the adjective "RECOMMENDED" means that there
      may exist valid reasons in particular circumstances to ignore
      this item, but the full implications should be understood and
      the case carefully weighed before choosing a different course.
    o "SHOULD NOT"
      This phrase means that there may exist valid reasons in
      particular circumstances when the listed behavior is acceptable
      or even useful, but the full implications should be understood
      and the case carefully weighed before implementing any behavior
      described with this label.

Droms Standards Track [Page 5] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

    o "MAY"
      This word or the adjective "OPTIONAL" means that this item is
      truly optional.  One vendor may choose to include the item
      because a particular marketplace requires it or because it
      enhances the product, for example; another vendor may omit the
      same item.

1.5 Terminology

 This document uses the following terms:
    o "DHCP client"
    A DHCP client is an Internet host using DHCP to obtain
    configuration parameters such as a network address.
    o "DHCP server"
    A DHCP server is an Internet host that returns configuration
    parameters to DHCP clients.
    o "BOOTP relay agent"
    A BOOTP relay agent or relay agent is an Internet host or router
    that passes DHCP messages between DHCP clients and DHCP servers.
    DHCP is designed to use the same relay agent behavior as specified
    in the BOOTP protocol specification.
    o "binding"
    A binding is a collection of configuration parameters, including
    at least an IP address, associated with or "bound to" a DHCP
    client.  Bindings are managed by DHCP servers.

1.6 Design goals

 The following list gives general design goals for DHCP.
    o DHCP should be a mechanism rather than a policy.  DHCP must
      allow local system administrators control over configuration
      parameters where desired; e.g., local system administrators
      should be able to enforce local policies concerning allocation
      and access to local resources where desired.

Droms Standards Track [Page 6] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

    o Clients should require no manual configuration.  Each client
      should be able to discover appropriate local configuration
      parameters without user intervention and incorporate those
      parameters into its own configuration.
    o Networks should require no manual configuration for individual
      clients.  Under normal circumstances, the network manager
      should not have to enter any per-client configuration
      parameters.
    o DHCP should not require a server on each subnet.  To allow for
      scale and economy, DHCP must work across routers or through the
      intervention of BOOTP relay agents.
    o A DHCP client must be prepared to receive multiple responses
      to a request for configuration parameters.  Some installations
      may include multiple, overlapping DHCP servers to enhance
      reliability and increase performance.
    o DHCP must coexist with statically configured, non-participating
      hosts and with existing network protocol implementations.
    o DHCP must interoperate with the BOOTP relay agent behavior as
      described by RFC 951 and by RFC 1542 [21].
    o DHCP must provide service to existing BOOTP clients.
 The following list gives design goals specific to the transmission of
 the network layer parameters.  DHCP must:
    o Guarantee that any specific network address will not be in
      use by more than one DHCP client at a time,
    o Retain DHCP client configuration across DHCP client reboot.  A
      DHCP client should, whenever possible, be assigned the same
      configuration parameters (e.g., network address) in response
      to each request,
    o Retain DHCP client configuration across server reboots, and,
      whenever possible, a DHCP client should be assigned the same
      configuration parameters despite restarts of the DHCP mechanism,
    o Allow automated assignment of configuration parameters to new
      clients to avoid hand configuration for new clients,
    o Support fixed or permanent allocation of configuration
      parameters to specific clients.

Droms Standards Track [Page 7] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

2. Protocol Summary

 From the client's point of view, DHCP is an extension of the BOOTP
 mechanism.  This behavior allows existing BOOTP clients to
 interoperate with DHCP servers without requiring any change to the
 clients' initialization software.  RFC 1542 [2] details the
 interactions between BOOTP and DHCP clients and servers [9].  There
 are some new, optional transactions that optimize the interaction
 between DHCP clients and servers that are described in sections 3 and
 4.
 Figure 1 gives the format of a DHCP message and table 1 describes
 each of the fields in the DHCP message.  The numbers in parentheses
 indicate the size of each field in octets.  The names for the fields
 given in the figure will be used throughout this document to refer to
 the fields in DHCP messages.
 There are two primary differences between DHCP and BOOTP.  First,
 DHCP defines mechanisms through which clients can be assigned a
 network address for a finite lease, allowing for serial reassignment
 of network addresses to different clients.  Second, DHCP provides the
 mechanism for a client to acquire all of the IP configuration
 parameters that it needs in order to operate.
 DHCP introduces a small change in terminology intended to clarify the
 meaning of one of the fields.  What was the "vendor extensions" field
 in BOOTP has been re-named the "options" field in DHCP. Similarly,
 the tagged data items that were used inside the BOOTP "vendor
 extensions" field, which were formerly referred to as "vendor
 extensions," are now termed simply "options."

Droms Standards Track [Page 8] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 0                   1                   2                   3
 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
 +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
 |     op (1)    |   htype (1)   |   hlen (1)    |   hops (1)    |
 +---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
 |                            xid (4)                            |
 +-------------------------------+-------------------------------+
 |           secs (2)            |           flags (2)           |
 +-------------------------------+-------------------------------+
 |                          ciaddr  (4)                          |
 +---------------------------------------------------------------+
 |                          yiaddr  (4)                          |
 +---------------------------------------------------------------+
 |                          siaddr  (4)                          |
 +---------------------------------------------------------------+
 |                          giaddr  (4)                          |
 +---------------------------------------------------------------+
 |                                                               |
 |                          chaddr  (16)                         |
 |                                                               |
 |                                                               |
 +---------------------------------------------------------------+
 |                                                               |
 |                          sname   (64)                         |
 +---------------------------------------------------------------+
 |                                                               |
 |                          file    (128)                        |
 +---------------------------------------------------------------+
 |                                                               |
 |                          options (variable)                   |
 +---------------------------------------------------------------+
                Figure 1:  Format of a DHCP message
 DHCP defines a new 'client identifier' option that is used to pass an
 explicit client identifier to a DHCP server.  This change eliminates
 the overloading of the 'chaddr' field in BOOTP messages, where
 'chaddr' is used both as a hardware address for transmission of BOOTP
 reply messages and as a client identifier.  The 'client identifier'
 is an opaque key, not to be interpreted by the server; for example,
 the 'client identifier' may contain a hardware address, identical to
 the contents of the 'chaddr' field, or it may contain another type of
 identifier, such as a DNS name.  The 'client identifier' chosen by a
 DHCP client MUST be unique to that client within the subnet to which
 the client is attached. If the client uses a 'client identifier' in
 one message, it MUST use that same identifier in all subsequent
 messages, to ensure that all servers correctly identify the client.

Droms Standards Track [Page 9] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 DHCP clarifies the interpretation of the 'siaddr' field as the
 address of the server to use in the next step of the client's
 bootstrap process.  A DHCP server may return its own address in the
 'siaddr' field, if the server is prepared to supply the next
 bootstrap service (e.g., delivery of an operating system executable
 image).  A DHCP server always returns its own address in the 'server
 identifier' option.
 FIELD      OCTETS       DESCRIPTION
 -----      ------       -----------
 op            1  Message op code / message type.
                  1 = BOOTREQUEST, 2 = BOOTREPLY
 htype         1  Hardware address type, see ARP section in "Assigned
                  Numbers" RFC; e.g., '1' = 10mb ethernet.
 hlen          1  Hardware address length (e.g.  '6' for 10mb
                  ethernet).
 hops          1  Client sets to zero, optionally used by relay agents
                  when booting via a relay agent.
 xid           4  Transaction ID, a random number chosen by the
                  client, used by the client and server to associate
                  messages and responses between a client and a
                  server.
 secs          2  Filled in by client, seconds elapsed since client
                  began address acquisition or renewal process.
 flags         2  Flags (see figure 2).
 ciaddr        4  Client IP address; only filled in if client is in
                  BOUND, RENEW or REBINDING state and can respond
                  to ARP requests.
 yiaddr        4  'your' (client) IP address.
 siaddr        4  IP address of next server to use in bootstrap;
                  returned in DHCPOFFER, DHCPACK by server.
 giaddr        4  Relay agent IP address, used in booting via a
                  relay agent.
 chaddr       16  Client hardware address.
 sname        64  Optional server host name, null terminated string.
 file        128  Boot file name, null terminated string; "generic"
                  name or null in DHCPDISCOVER, fully qualified
                  directory-path name in DHCPOFFER.
 options     var  Optional parameters field.  See the options
                  documents for a list of defined options.
         Table 1:  Description of fields in a DHCP message
 The 'options' field is now variable length. A DHCP client must be
 prepared to receive DHCP messages with an 'options' field of at least
 length 312 octets.  This requirement implies that a DHCP client must
 be prepared to receive a message of up to 576 octets, the minimum IP

Droms Standards Track [Page 10] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 datagram size an IP host must be prepared to accept [3].  DHCP
 clients may negotiate the use of larger DHCP messages through the
 'maximum DHCP message size' option.  The options field may be further
 extended into the 'file' and 'sname' fields.
 In the case of a client using DHCP for initial configuration (before
 the client's TCP/IP software has been completely configured), DHCP
 requires creative use of the client's TCP/IP software and liberal
 interpretation of RFC 1122.  The TCP/IP software SHOULD accept and
 forward to the IP layer any IP packets delivered to the client's
 hardware address before the IP address is configured; DHCP servers
 and BOOTP relay agents may not be able to deliver DHCP messages to
 clients that cannot accept hardware unicast datagrams before the
 TCP/IP software is configured.
 To work around some clients that cannot accept IP unicast datagrams
 before the TCP/IP software is configured as discussed in the previous
 paragraph, DHCP uses the 'flags' field [21].  The leftmost bit is
 defined as the BROADCAST (B) flag.  The semantics of this flag are
 discussed in section 4.1 of this document.  The remaining bits of the
 flags field are reserved for future use.  They MUST be set to zero by
 clients and ignored by servers and relay agents.  Figure 2 gives the
 format of the 'flags' field.
                                  1 1 1 1 1 1
              0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5
              +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
              |B|             MBZ             |
              +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
              B:  BROADCAST flag
              MBZ:  MUST BE ZERO (reserved for future use)
              Figure 2:  Format of the 'flags' field

2.1 Configuration parameters repository

 The first service provided by DHCP is to provide persistent storage
 of network parameters for network clients.  The model of DHCP
 persistent storage is that the DHCP service stores a key-value entry
 for each client, where the key is some unique identifier (for
 example, an IP subnet number and a unique identifier within the
 subnet) and the value contains the configuration parameters for the
 client.
 For example, the key might be the pair (IP-subnet-number, hardware-
 address) (note that the "hardware-address" should be typed by the

Droms Standards Track [Page 11] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 type of hardware to accommodate possible duplication of hardware
 addresses resulting from bit-ordering problems in a mixed-media,
 bridged network) allowing for serial or concurrent reuse of a
 hardware address on different subnets, and for hardware addresses
 that may not be globally unique.  Alternately, the key might be the
 pair (IP-subnet-number, hostname), allowing the server to assign
 parameters intelligently to a DHCP client that has been moved to a
 different subnet or has changed hardware addresses (perhaps because
 the network interface failed and was replaced). The protocol defines
 that the key will be (IP-subnet-number, hardware-address) unless the
 client explicitly supplies an identifier using the 'client
 identifier' option.           A client can query the DHCP service to
 retrieve its configuration parameters.  The client interface to the
 configuration parameters repository consists of protocol messages to
 request configuration parameters and responses from the server
 carrying the configuration parameters.

2.2 Dynamic allocation of network addresses

 The second service provided by DHCP is the allocation of temporary or
 permanent network (IP) addresses to clients.  The basic mechanism for
 the dynamic allocation of network addresses is simple: a client
 requests the use of an address for some period of time.  The
 allocation mechanism (the collection of DHCP servers) guarantees not
 to reallocate that address within the requested time and attempts to
 return the same network address each time the client requests an
 address.  In this document, the period over which a network address
 is allocated to a client is referred to as a "lease" [11].  The
 client may extend its lease with subsequent requests.  The client may
 issue a message to release the address back to the server when the
 client no longer needs the address.  The client may ask for a
 permanent assignment by asking for an infinite lease.  Even when
 assigning "permanent" addresses, a server may choose to give out
 lengthy but non-infinite leases to allow detection of the fact that
 the client has been retired.
 In some environments it will be necessary to reassign network
 addresses due to exhaustion of available addresses.  In such
 environments, the allocation mechanism will reuse addresses whose
 lease has expired.  The server should use whatever information is
 available in the configuration information repository to choose an
 address to reuse.  For example, the server may choose the least
 recently assigned address.  As a consistency check, the allocating
 server SHOULD probe the reused address before allocating the address,
 e.g., with an ICMP echo request, and the client SHOULD probe the
 newly received address, e.g., with ARP.

Droms Standards Track [Page 12] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

3. The Client-Server Protocol

 DHCP uses the BOOTP message format defined in RFC 951 and given in
 table 1 and figure 1.  The 'op' field of each DHCP message sent from
 a client to a server contains BOOTREQUEST. BOOTREPLY is used in the
 'op' field of each DHCP message sent from a server to a client.
 The first four octets of the 'options' field of the DHCP message
 contain the (decimal) values 99, 130, 83 and 99, respectively (this
 is the same magic cookie as is defined in RFC 1497 [17]).  The
 remainder of the 'options' field consists of a list of tagged
 parameters that are called "options".  All of the "vendor extensions"
 listed in RFC 1497 are also DHCP options.  RFC 1533 gives the
 complete set of options defined for use with DHCP.
 Several options have been defined so far.  One particular option -
 the "DHCP message type" option - must be included in every DHCP
 message.  This option defines the "type" of the DHCP message.
 Additional options may be allowed, required, or not allowed,
 depending on the DHCP message type.
 Throughout this document, DHCP messages that include a 'DHCP message
 type' option will be referred to by the type of the message; e.g., a
 DHCP message with 'DHCP message type' option type 1 will be referred
 to as a "DHCPDISCOVER" message.

3.1 Client-server interaction - allocating a network address

 The following summary of the protocol exchanges between clients and
 servers refers to the DHCP messages described in table 2.  The
 timeline diagram in figure 3 shows the timing relationships in a
 typical client-server interaction.  If the client already knows its
 address, some steps may be omitted; this abbreviated interaction is
 described in section 3.2.
 1. The client broadcasts a DHCPDISCOVER message on its local physical
    subnet.  The DHCPDISCOVER message MAY include options that suggest
    values for the network address and lease duration.  BOOTP relay
    agents may pass the message on to DHCP servers not on the same
    physical subnet.
 2. Each server may respond with a DHCPOFFER message that includes an
    available network address in the 'yiaddr' field (and other
    configuration parameters in DHCP options).  Servers need not
    reserve the offered network address, although the protocol will
    work more efficiently if the server avoids allocating the offered
    network address to another client.  When allocating a new address,
    servers SHOULD check that the offered network address is not

Droms Standards Track [Page 13] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

    already in use; e.g., the server may probe the offered address
    with an ICMP Echo Request.  Servers SHOULD be implemented so that
    network administrators MAY choose to disable probes of newly
    allocated addresses.  The server transmits the DHCPOFFER message
    to the client, using the BOOTP relay agent if necessary.
 Message         Use
 -------         ---
 DHCPDISCOVER -  Client broadcast to locate available servers.
 DHCPOFFER    -  Server to client in response to DHCPDISCOVER with
                 offer of configuration parameters.
 DHCPREQUEST  -  Client message to servers either (a) requesting
                 offered parameters from one server and implicitly
                 declining offers from all others, (b) confirming
                 correctness of previously allocated address after,
                 e.g., system reboot, or (c) extending the lease on a
                 particular network address.
 DHCPACK      -  Server to client with configuration parameters,
                 including committed network address.
 DHCPNAK      -  Server to client indicating client's notion of network
                 address is incorrect (e.g., client has moved to new
                 subnet) or client's lease as expired
 DHCPDECLINE  -  Client to server indicating network address is already
                 in use.
 DHCPRELEASE  -  Client to server relinquishing network address and
                 cancelling remaining lease.
 DHCPINFORM   -  Client to server, asking only for local configuration
                 parameters; client already has externally configured
                 network address.
                        Table 2:  DHCP messages

Droms Standards Track [Page 14] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

              Server          Client          Server
          (not selected)                    (selected)
                v               v               v
                |               |               |
                |     Begins initialization     |
                |               |               |
                | _____________/|\____________  |
                |/DHCPDISCOVER | DHCPDISCOVER  \|
                |               |               |
            Determines          |          Determines
           configuration        |         configuration
                |               |               |
                |\             |  ____________/ |
                | \________    | /DHCPOFFER     |
                | DHCPOFFER\   |/               |
                |           \  |                |
                |       Collects replies        |
                |             \|                |
                |     Selects configuration     |
                |               |               |
                | _____________/|\____________  |
                |/ DHCPREQUEST  |  DHCPREQUEST\ |
                |               |               |
                |               |     Commits configuration
                |               |               |
                |               | _____________/|
                |               |/ DHCPACK      |
                |               |               |
                |    Initialization complete    |
                |               |               |
                .               .               .
                .               .               .
                |               |               |
                |      Graceful shutdown        |
                |               |               |
                |               |\ ____________ |
                |               | DHCPRELEASE  \|
                |               |               |
                |               |        Discards lease
                |               |               |
                v               v               v
   Figure 3: Timeline diagram of messages exchanged between DHCP
             client and servers when allocating a new network address

Droms Standards Track [Page 15] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

3. The client receives one or more DHCPOFFER messages from one or more
   servers.  The client may choose to wait for multiple responses.
   The client chooses one server from which to request configuration
   parameters, based on the configuration parameters offered in the
   DHCPOFFER messages.  The client broadcasts a DHCPREQUEST message
   that MUST include the 'server identifier' option to indicate which
   server it has selected, and that MAY include other options
   specifying desired configuration values.  The 'requested IP
   address' option MUST be set to the value of 'yiaddr' in the
   DHCPOFFER message from the server.  This DHCPREQUEST message is
   broadcast and relayed through DHCP/BOOTP relay agents.  To help
   ensure that any BOOTP relay agents forward the DHCPREQUEST message
   to the same set of DHCP servers that received the original
   DHCPDISCOVER message, the DHCPREQUEST message MUST use the same
   value in the DHCP message header's 'secs' field and be sent to the
   same IP broadcast address as the original DHCPDISCOVER message.
   The client times out and retransmits the DHCPDISCOVER message if
   the client receives no DHCPOFFER messages.
4. The servers receive the DHCPREQUEST broadcast from the client.
   Those servers not selected by the DHCPREQUEST message use the
   message as notification that the client has declined that server's
   offer.  The server selected in the DHCPREQUEST message commits the
   binding for the client to persistent storage and responds with a
   DHCPACK message containing the configuration parameters for the
   requesting client.  The combination of 'client identifier' or
   'chaddr' and assigned network address constitute a unique
   identifier for the client's lease and are used by both the client
   and server to identify a lease referred to in any DHCP messages.
   Any configuration parameters in the DHCPACK message SHOULD NOT
   conflict with those in the earlier DHCPOFFER message to which the
   client is responding.  The server SHOULD NOT check the offered
   network address at this point. The 'yiaddr' field in the DHCPACK
   messages is filled in with the selected network address.
   If the selected server is unable to satisfy the DHCPREQUEST message
   (e.g., the requested network address has been allocated), the
   server SHOULD respond with a DHCPNAK message.
   A server MAY choose to mark addresses offered to clients in
   DHCPOFFER messages as unavailable.  The server SHOULD mark an
   address offered to a client in a DHCPOFFER message as available if
   the server receives no DHCPREQUEST message from that client.
5. The client receives the DHCPACK message with configuration
   parameters.  The client SHOULD perform a final check on the
   parameters (e.g., ARP for allocated network address), and notes the
   duration of the lease specified in the DHCPACK message.  At this

Droms Standards Track [Page 16] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

   point, the client is configured.  If the client detects that the
   address is already in use (e.g., through the use of ARP), the
   client MUST send a DHCPDECLINE message to the server and restarts
   the configuration process.  The client SHOULD wait a minimum of ten
   seconds before restarting the configuration process to avoid
   excessive network traffic in case of looping.
   If the client receives a DHCPNAK message, the client restarts the
   configuration process.
   The client times out and retransmits the DHCPREQUEST message if the
   client receives neither a DHCPACK or a DHCPNAK message.  The client
   retransmits the DHCPREQUEST according to the retransmission
   algorithm in section 4.1.  The client should choose to retransmit
   the DHCPREQUEST enough times to give adequate probability of
   contacting the server without causing the client (and the user of
   that client) to wait overly long before giving up; e.g., a client
   retransmitting as described in section 4.1 might retransmit the
   DHCPREQUEST message four times, for a total delay of 60 seconds,
   before restarting the initialization procedure.  If the client
   receives neither a DHCPACK or a DHCPNAK message after employing the
   retransmission algorithm, the client reverts to INIT state and
   restarts the initialization process.  The client SHOULD notify the
   user that the initialization process has failed and is restarting.
6. The client may choose to relinquish its lease on a network address
   by sending a DHCPRELEASE message to the server.  The client
   identifies the lease to be released with its 'client identifier',
   or 'chaddr' and network address in the DHCPRELEASE message. If the
   client used a 'client identifier' when it obtained the lease, it
   MUST use the same 'client identifier' in the DHCPRELEASE message.

3.2 Client-server interaction - reusing a previously allocated network

  address
 If a client remembers and wishes to reuse a previously allocated
 network address, a client may choose to omit some of the steps
 described in the previous section.  The timeline diagram in figure 4
 shows the timing relationships in a typical client-server interaction
 for a client reusing a previously allocated network address.

Droms Standards Track [Page 17] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 1. The client broadcasts a DHCPREQUEST message on its local subnet.
    The message includes the client's network address in the
    'requested IP address' option. As the client has not received its
    network address, it MUST NOT fill in the 'ciaddr' field. BOOTP
    relay agents pass the message on to DHCP servers not on the same
    subnet.  If the client used a 'client identifier' to obtain its
    address, the client MUST use the same 'client identifier' in the
    DHCPREQUEST message.
 2. Servers with knowledge of the client's configuration parameters
    respond with a DHCPACK message to the client.  Servers SHOULD NOT
    check that the client's network address is already in use; the
    client may respond to ICMP Echo Request messages at this point.
              Server          Client          Server
                v               v               v
                |                |               |
                |              Begins            |
                |          initialization        |
                |                |               |
                |                /|\             |
                |   _________ __/ | \__________  |
                | /DHCPREQU EST  |  DHCPREQUEST\ |
                |/               |              \|
                |                |               |
             Locates             |            Locates
          configuration          |         configuration
                |                |               |
                |\               |              /|
                | \              |  ___________/ |
                |  \             | /  DHCPACK    |
                |   \ _______    |/              |
                |     DHCPACK\   |               |
                |          Initialization        |
                |             complete           |
                |               \|               |
                |                |               |
                |           (Subsequent          |
                |             DHCPACKS           |
                |             ignored)           |
                |                |               |
                |                |               |
                v                v               v
   Figure 4: Timeline diagram of messages exchanged between DHCP
             client and servers when reusing a previously allocated
             network address

Droms Standards Track [Page 18] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

    If the client's request is invalid (e.g., the client has moved
    to a new subnet), servers SHOULD respond with a DHCPNAK message to
    the client. Servers SHOULD NOT respond if their information is not
    guaranteed to be accurate.  For example, a server that identifies a
    request for an expired binding that is owned by another server SHOULD
    NOT respond with a DHCPNAK unless the servers are using an explicit
    mechanism to maintain coherency among the servers.
    If 'giaddr' is 0x0 in the DHCPREQUEST message, the client is on
    the same subnet as the server.  The server MUST
    broadcast the DHCPNAK message to the 0xffffffff broadcast address
    because the client may not have a correct network address or subnet
    mask, and the client may not be answering ARP requests.
    Otherwise, the server MUST send the DHCPNAK message to the IP
    address of the BOOTP relay agent, as recorded in 'giaddr'.  The
    relay agent will, in turn, forward the message directly to the
    client's hardware address, so that the DHCPNAK can be delivered even
    if the client has moved to a new network.
 3. The client receives the DHCPACK message with configuration
    parameters.  The client performs a final check on the parameters
    (as in section 3.1), and notes the duration of the lease specified
    in the DHCPACK message.  The specific lease is implicitly identified
    by the 'client identifier' or 'chaddr' and the network address.  At
    this point, the client is configured.
    If the client detects that the IP address in the DHCPACK message
    is already in use, the client MUST send a DHCPDECLINE message to the
    server and restarts the configuration process by requesting a
    new network address.  This action corresponds to the client
    moving to the INIT state in the DHCP state diagram, which is
    described in section 4.4.
    If the client receives a DHCPNAK message, it cannot reuse its
    remembered network address.  It must instead request a new
    address by restarting the configuration process, this time
    using the (non-abbreviated) procedure described in section
    3.1.  This action also corresponds to the client moving to
    the INIT state in the DHCP state diagram.
    The client times out and retransmits the DHCPREQUEST message if
    the client receives neither a DHCPACK nor a DHCPNAK message.  The
    client retransmits the DHCPREQUEST according to the retransmission
    algorithm in section 4.1.  The client should choose to retransmit
    the DHCPREQUEST enough times to give adequate probability of
    contacting the server without causing the client (and the user of
    that client) to wait overly long before giving up; e.g., a client
    retransmitting as described in section 4.1 might retransmit the

Droms Standards Track [Page 19] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

    DHCPREQUEST message four times, for a total delay of 60 seconds,
    before restarting the initialization procedure.  If the client
    receives neither a DHCPACK or a DHCPNAK message after employing
    the retransmission algorithm, the client MAY choose to use the
    previously allocated network address and configuration parameters
    for the remainder of the unexpired lease.  This corresponds to
    moving to BOUND state in the client state transition diagram shown
    in figure 5.
 4. The client may choose to relinquish its lease on a network
    address by sending a DHCPRELEASE message to the server.  The
    client identifies the lease to be released with its
    'client identifier', or 'chaddr' and network address in the
    DHCPRELEASE message.
    Note that in this case, where the client retains its network
    address locally, the client will not normally relinquish its
    lease during a graceful shutdown.  Only in the case where the
    client explicitly needs to relinquish its lease, e.g., the client
    is about to be moved to a different subnet, will the client send
    a DHCPRELEASE message.

3.3 Interpretation and representation of time values

 A client acquires a lease for a network address for a fixed period of
 time (which may be infinite).  Throughout the protocol, times are to
 be represented in units of seconds.  The time value of 0xffffffff is
 reserved to represent "infinity".
 As clients and servers may not have synchronized clocks, times are
 represented in DHCP messages as relative times, to be interpreted
 with respect to the client's local clock.  Representing relative
 times in units of seconds in an unsigned 32 bit word gives a range of
 relative times from 0 to approximately 100 years, which is sufficient
 for the relative times to be measured using DHCP.
 The algorithm for lease duration interpretation given in the previous
 paragraph assumes that client and server clocks are stable relative
 to each other.  If there is drift between the two clocks, the server
 may consider the lease expired before the client does.  To
 compensate, the server may return a shorter lease duration to the
 client than the server commits to its local database of client
 information.

3.4 Obtaining parameters with externally configured network address

 If a client has obtained a network address through some other means
 (e.g., manual configuration), it may use a DHCPINFORM request message

Droms Standards Track [Page 20] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 to obtain other local configuration parameters.  Servers receiving a
 DHCPINFORM message construct a DHCPACK message with any local
 configuration parameters appropriate for the client without:
 allocating a new address, checking for an existing binding, filling
 in 'yiaddr' or including lease time parameters.  The servers SHOULD
 unicast the DHCPACK reply to the address given in the 'ciaddr' field
 of the DHCPINFORM message.
 The server SHOULD check the network address in a DHCPINFORM message
 for consistency, but MUST NOT check for an existing lease.  The
 server forms a DHCPACK message containing the configuration
 parameters for the requesting client and sends the DHCPACK message
 directly to the client.

3.5 Client parameters in DHCP

 Not all clients require initialization of all parameters listed in
 Appendix A.  Two techniques are used to reduce the number of
 parameters transmitted from the server to the client.  First, most of
 the parameters have defaults defined in the Host Requirements RFCs;
 if the client receives no parameters from the server that override
 the defaults, a client uses those default values.  Second, in its
 initial DHCPDISCOVER or DHCPREQUEST message, a client may provide the
 server with a list of specific parameters the client is interested
 in.  If the client includes a list of parameters in a DHCPDISCOVER
 message, it MUST include that list in any subsequent DHCPREQUEST
 messages.
 The client SHOULD include the 'maximum DHCP message size' option to
 let the server know how large the server may make its DHCP messages.
 The parameters returned to a client may still exceed the space
 allocated to options in a DHCP message.  In this case, two additional
 options flags (which must appear in the 'options' field of the
 message) indicate that the 'file' and 'sname' fields are to be used
 for options.
 The client can inform the server which configuration parameters the
 client is interested in by including the 'parameter request list'
 option.  The data portion of this option explicitly lists the options
 requested by tag number.
 In addition, the client may suggest values for the network address
 and lease time in the DHCPDISCOVER message.  The client may include
 the 'requested IP address' option to suggest that a particular IP
 address be assigned, and may include the 'IP address lease time'
 option to suggest the lease time it would like.  Other options
 representing "hints" at configuration parameters are allowed in a
 DHCPDISCOVER or DHCPREQUEST message.  However, additional options may

Droms Standards Track [Page 21] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 be ignored by servers, and multiple servers may, therefore, not
 return identical values for some options.  The 'requested IP address'
 option is to be filled in only in a DHCPREQUEST message when the
 client is verifying network parameters obtained previously. The
 client fills in the 'ciaddr' field only when correctly configured
 with an IP address in BOUND, RENEWING or REBINDING state.
 If a server receives a DHCPREQUEST message with an invalid 'requested
 IP address', the server SHOULD respond to the client with a DHCPNAK
 message and may choose to report the problem to the system
 administrator.  The server may include an error message in the
 'message' option.

3.6 Use of DHCP in clients with multiple interfaces

 A client with multiple network interfaces must use DHCP through each
 interface independently to obtain configuration information
 parameters for those separate interfaces.

3.7 When clients should use DHCP

 A client SHOULD use DHCP to reacquire or verify its IP address and
 network parameters whenever the local network parameters may have
 changed; e.g., at system boot time or after a disconnection from the
 local network, as the local network configuration may change without
 the client's or user's knowledge.
 If a client has knowledge of a previous network address and is unable
 to contact a local DHCP server, the client may continue to use the
 previous network address until the lease for that address expires.
 If the lease expires before the client can contact a DHCP server, the
 client must immediately discontinue use of the previous network
 address and may inform local users of the problem.

4. Specification of the DHCP client-server protocol

 In this section, we assume that a DHCP server has a block of network
 addresses from which it can satisfy requests for new addresses.  Each
 server also maintains a database of allocated addresses and leases in
 local permanent storage.

4.1 Constructing and sending DHCP messages

 DHCP clients and servers both construct DHCP messages by filling in
 fields in the fixed format section of the message and appending
 tagged data items in the variable length option area.  The options
 area includes first a four-octet 'magic cookie' (which was described
 in section 3), followed by the options.  The last option must always

Droms Standards Track [Page 22] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 be the 'end' option.
 DHCP uses UDP as its transport protocol.  DHCP messages from a client
 to a server are sent to the 'DHCP server' port (67), and DHCP
 messages from a server to a client are sent to the 'DHCP client' port
 (68). A server with multiple network address (e.g., a multi-homed
 host) MAY use any of its network addresses in outgoing DHCP messages.
 The 'server identifier' field is used both to identify a DHCP server
 in a DHCP message and as a destination address from clients to
 servers.  A server with multiple network addresses MUST be prepared
 to to accept any of its network addresses as identifying that server
 in a DHCP message.  To accommodate potentially incomplete network
 connectivity, a server MUST choose an address as a 'server
 identifier' that, to the best of the server's knowledge, is reachable
 from the client.  For example, if the DHCP server and the DHCP client
 are connected to the same subnet (i.e., the 'giaddr' field in the
 message from the client is zero), the server SHOULD select the IP
 address the server is using for communication on that subnet as the
 'server identifier'.  If the server is using multiple IP addresses on
 that subnet, any such address may be used.  If the server has
 received a message through a DHCP relay agent, the server SHOULD
 choose an address from the interface on which the message was
 recieved as the 'server identifier' (unless the server has other,
 better information on which to make its choice).  DHCP clients MUST
 use the IP address provided in the 'server identifier' option for any
 unicast requests to the DHCP server.
 DHCP messages broadcast by a client prior to that client obtaining
 its IP address must have the source address field in the IP header
 set to 0.
 If the 'giaddr' field in a DHCP message from a client is non-zero,
 the server sends any return messages to the 'DHCP server' port on the
 BOOTP relay agent whose address appears in 'giaddr'. If the 'giaddr'
 field is zero and the 'ciaddr' field is nonzero, then the server
 unicasts DHCPOFFER and DHCPACK messages to the address in 'ciaddr'.
 If 'giaddr' is zero and 'ciaddr' is zero, and the broadcast bit is
 set, then the server broadcasts DHCPOFFER and DHCPACK messages to
 0xffffffff. If the broadcast bit is not set and 'giaddr' is zero and
 'ciaddr' is zero, then the server unicasts DHCPOFFER and DHCPACK
 messages to the client's hardware address and 'yiaddr' address.  In
 all cases, when 'giaddr' is zero, the server broadcasts any DHCPNAK
 messages to 0xffffffff.
 If the options in a DHCP message extend into the 'sname' and 'file'
 fields, the 'option overload' option MUST appear in the 'options'
 field, with value 1, 2 or 3, as specified in RFC 1533.  If the

Droms Standards Track [Page 23] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 'option overload' option is present in the 'options' field, the
 options in the 'options' field MUST be terminated by an 'end' option,
 and MAY contain one or more 'pad' options to fill the options field.
 The options in the 'sname' and 'file' fields (if in use as indicated
 by the 'options overload' option) MUST begin with the first octet of
 the field, MUST be terminated by an 'end' option, and MUST be
 followed by 'pad' options to fill the remainder of the field.  Any
 individual option in the 'options', 'sname' and 'file' fields MUST be
 entirely contained in that field.  The options in the 'options' field
 MUST be interpreted first, so that any 'option overload' options may
 be interpreted.  The 'file' field MUST be interpreted next (if the
 'option overload' option indicates that the 'file' field contains
 DHCP options), followed by the 'sname' field.
 The values to be passed in an 'option' tag may be too long to fit in
 the 255 octets available to a single option (e.g., a list of routers
 in a 'router' option [21]).  Options may appear only once, unless
 otherwise specified in the options document.  The client concatenates
 the values of multiple instances of the same option into a single
 parameter list for configuration.
 DHCP clients are responsible for all message retransmission.  The
 client MUST adopt a retransmission strategy that incorporates a
 randomized exponential backoff algorithm to determine the delay
 between retransmissions.  The delay between retransmissions SHOULD be
 chosen to allow sufficient time for replies from the server to be
 delivered based on the characteristics of the internetwork between
 the client and the server.  For example, in a 10Mb/sec Ethernet
 internetwork, the delay before the first retransmission SHOULD be 4
 seconds randomized by the value of a uniform random number chosen
 from the range -1 to +1.  Clients with clocks that provide resolution
 granularity of less than one second may choose a non-integer
 randomization value.  The delay before the next retransmission SHOULD
 be 8 seconds randomized by the value of a uniform number chosen from
 the range -1 to +1.  The retransmission delay SHOULD be doubled with
 subsequent retransmissions up to a maximum of 64 seconds.  The client
 MAY provide an indication of retransmission attempts to the user as
 an indication of the progress of the configuration process.
 The 'xid' field is used by the client to match incoming DHCP messages
 with pending requests.  A DHCP client MUST choose 'xid's in such a
 way as to minimize the chance of using an 'xid' identical to one used
 by another client. For example, a client may choose a different,
 random initial 'xid' each time the client is rebooted, and
 subsequently use sequential 'xid's until the next reboot.  Selecting
 a new 'xid' for each retransmission is an implementation decision.  A
 client may choose to reuse the same 'xid' or select a new 'xid' for
 each retransmitted message.

Droms Standards Track [Page 24] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 Normally, DHCP servers and BOOTP relay agents attempt to deliver
 DHCPOFFER, DHCPACK and DHCPNAK messages directly to the client using
 uicast delivery.  The IP destination address (in the IP header) is
 set to the DHCP 'yiaddr' address and the link-layer destination
 address is set to the DHCP 'chaddr' address.  Unfortunately, some
 client implementations are unable to receive such unicast IP
 datagrams until the implementation has been configured with a valid
 IP address (leading to a deadlock in which the client's IP address
 cannot be delivered until the client has been configured with an IP
 address).
 A client that cannot receive unicast IP datagrams until its protocol
 software has been configured with an IP address SHOULD set the
 BROADCAST bit in the 'flags' field to 1 in any DHCPDISCOVER or
 DHCPREQUEST messages that client sends.  The BROADCAST bit will
 provide a hint to the DHCP server and BOOTP relay agent to broadcast
 any messages to the client on the client's subnet.  A client that can
 receive unicast IP datagrams before its protocol software has been
 configured SHOULD clear the BROADCAST bit to 0.  The BOOTP
 clarifications document discusses the ramifications of the use of the
 BROADCAST bit [21].
 A server or relay agent sending or relaying a DHCP message directly
 to a DHCP client (i.e., not to a relay agent specified in the
 'giaddr' field) SHOULD examine the BROADCAST bit in the 'flags'
 field.  If this bit is set to 1, the DHCP message SHOULD be sent as
 an IP broadcast using an IP broadcast address (preferably 0xffffffff)
 as the IP destination address and the link-layer broadcast address as
 the link-layer destination address.  If the BROADCAST bit is cleared
 to 0, the message SHOULD be sent as an IP unicast to the IP address
 specified in the 'yiaddr' field and the link-layer address specified
 in the 'chaddr' field.  If unicasting is not possible, the message
 MAY be sent as an IP broadcast using an IP broadcast address
 (preferably 0xffffffff) as the IP destination address and the link-
 layer broadcast address as the link-layer destination address.

4.2 DHCP server administrative controls

 DHCP servers are not required to respond to every DHCPDISCOVER and
 DHCPREQUEST message they receive.  For example, a network
 administrator, to retain stringent control over the clients attached
 to the network, may choose to configure DHCP servers to respond only
 to clients that have been previously registered through some external
 mechanism.  The DHCP specification describes only the interactions
 between clients and servers when the clients and servers choose to
 interact; it is beyond the scope of the DHCP specification to
 describe all of the administrative controls that system
 administrators might want to use.  Specific DHCP server

Droms Standards Track [Page 25] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 implementations may incorporate any controls or policies desired by a
 network administrator.
 In some environments, a DHCP server will have to consider the values
 of the vendor class options included in DHCPDISCOVER or DHCPREQUEST
 messages when determining the correct parameters for a particular
 client.
 A DHCP server needs to use some unique identifier to associate a
 client with its lease.  The client MAY choose to explicitly provide
 the identifier through the 'client identifier' option.  If the client
 supplies a 'client identifier', the client MUST use the same 'client
 identifier' in all subsequent messages, and the server MUST use that
 identifier to identify the client.  If the client does not provide a
 'client identifier' option, the server MUST use the contents of the
 'chaddr' field to identify the client. It is crucial for a DHCP
 client to use an identifier unique within the subnet to which the
 client is attached in the 'client identifier' option.  Use of
 'chaddr' as the client's unique identifier may cause unexpected
 results, as that identifier may be associated with a hardware
 interface that could be moved to a new client.  Some sites may choose
 to use a manufacturer's serial number as the 'client identifier', to
 avoid unexpected changes in a clients network address due to transfer
 of hardware interfaces among computers.  Sites may also choose to use
 a DNS name as the 'client identifier', causing address leases to be
 associated with the DNS name rather than a specific hardware box.
 DHCP clients are free to use any strategy in selecting a DHCP server
 among those from which the client receives a DHCPOFFER message.  The
 client implementation of DHCP SHOULD provide a mechanism for the user
 to select directly the 'vendor class identifier' values.

4.3 DHCP server behavior

 A DHCP server processes incoming DHCP messages from a client based on
 the current state of the binding for that client.  A DHCP server can
 receive the following messages from a client:
    o DHCPDISCOVER
    o DHCPREQUEST
    o DHCPDECLINE
    o DHCPRELEASE
    o DHCPINFORM

Droms Standards Track [Page 26] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 Table 3 gives the use of the fields and options in a DHCP message by
 a server.  The remainder of this section describes the action of the
 DHCP server for each possible incoming message.

4.3.1 DHCPDISCOVER message

 When a server receives a DHCPDISCOVER message from a client, the
 server chooses a network address for the requesting client.  If no
 address is available, the server may choose to report the problem to
 the system administrator. If an address is available, the new address
 SHOULD be chosen as follows:
    o The client's current address as recorded in the client's current
      binding, ELSE
    o The client's previous address as recorded in the client's (now
      expired or released) binding, if that address is in the server's
      pool of available addresses and not already allocated, ELSE
    o The address requested in the 'Requested IP Address' option, if that
      address is valid and not already allocated, ELSE
    o A new address allocated from the server's pool of available
      addresses; the address is selected based on the subnet from which
      the message was received (if 'giaddr' is 0) or on the address of
      the relay agent that forwarded the message ('giaddr' when not 0).
 As described in section 4.2, a server MAY, for administrative
 reasons, assign an address other than the one requested, or may
 refuse to allocate an address to a particular client even though free
 addresses are available.
 Note that, in some network architectures (e.g., internets with more
 than one IP subnet assigned to a physical network segment), it may be
 the case that the DHCP client should be assigned an address from a
 different subnet than the address recorded in 'giaddr'.  Thus, DHCP
 does not require that the client be assigned as address from the
 subnet in 'giaddr'.  A server is free to choose some other subnet,
 and it is beyond the scope of the DHCP specification to describe ways
 in which the assigned IP address might be chosen.
 While not required for correct operation of DHCP, the server SHOULD
 NOT reuse the selected network address before the client responds to
 the server's DHCPOFFER message.  The server may choose to record the
 address as offered to the client.
 The server must also choose an expiration time for the lease, as
 follows:

Droms Standards Track [Page 27] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 o IF the client has not requested a specific lease in the
   DHCPDISCOVER message and the client already has an assigned network
   address, the server returns the lease expiration time previously
   assigned to that address (note that the client must explicitly
   request a specific lease to extend the expiration time on a
   previously assigned address), ELSE
 o IF the client has not requested a specific lease in the
   DHCPDISCOVER message and the client does not have an assigned
   network address, the server assigns a locally configured default
   lease time, ELSE
 o IF the client has requested a specific lease in the DHCPDISCOVER
   message (regardless of whether the client has an assigned network
   address), the server may choose either to return the requested
   lease (if the lease is acceptable to local policy) or select
   another lease.

Field DHCPOFFER DHCPACK DHCPNAK —– ——— ——- ——- 'op' BOOTREPLY BOOTREPLY BOOTREPLY 'htype' (From "Assigned Numbers" RFC) 'hlen' (Hardware address length in octets) 'hops' 0 0 0 'xid' 'xid' from client 'xid' from client 'xid' from client

         DHCPDISCOVER         DHCPREQUEST         DHCPREQUEST
         message              message             message

'secs' 0 0 0 'ciaddr' 0 'ciaddr' from 0

                              DHCPREQUEST or 0

'yiaddr' IP address offered IP address 0

         to client            assigned to client

'siaddr' IP address of next IP address of next 0

         bootstrap server     bootstrap server

'flags' 'flags' from 'flags' from 'flags' from

         client DHCPDISCOVER  client DHCPREQUEST  client DHCPREQUEST
         message              message             message

'giaddr' 'giaddr' from 'giaddr' from 'giaddr' from

         client DHCPDISCOVER  client DHCPREQUEST  client DHCPREQUEST
         message              message             message

'chaddr' 'chaddr' from 'chaddr' from 'chaddr' from

         client DHCPDISCOVER  client DHCPREQUEST  client DHCPREQUEST
         message              message             message

'sname' Server host name Server host name (unused)

         or options           or options

'file' Client boot file Client boot file (unused)

         name or options      name or options

'options' options options

Droms Standards Track [Page 28] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

Option DHCPOFFER DHCPACK DHCPNAK —— ——— ——- ——- Requested IP address MUST NOT MUST NOT MUST NOT IP address lease time MUST MUST (DHCPREQUEST) MUST NOT

                                     MUST NOT (DHCPINFORM)

Use 'file'/'sname' fields MAY MAY MUST NOT DHCP message type DHCPOFFER DHCPACK DHCPNAK Parameter request list MUST NOT MUST NOT MUST NOT Message SHOULD SHOULD SHOULD Client identifier MUST NOT MUST NOT MAY Vendor class identifier MAY MAY MAY Server identifier MUST MUST MUST Maximum message size MUST NOT MUST NOT MUST NOT All others MAY MAY MUST NOT

         Table 3:  Fields and options used by DHCP servers
 Once the network address and lease have been determined, the server
 constructs a DHCPOFFER message with the offered configuration
 parameters.  It is important for all DHCP servers to return the same
 parameters (with the possible exception of a newly allocated network
 address) to ensure predictable client behavior regardless of which
 server the client selects.  The configuration parameters MUST be
 selected by applying the following rules in the order given below.
 The network administrator is responsible for configuring multiple
 DHCP servers to ensure uniform responses from those servers.  The
 server MUST return to the client:
 o The client's network address, as determined by the rules given
   earlier in this section,
 o The expiration time for the client's lease, as determined by the
   rules given earlier in this section,
 o Parameters requested by the client, according to the following
   rules:
  1. - IF the server has been explicitly configured with a default

value for the parameter, the server MUST include that value

         in an appropriate option in the 'option' field, ELSE
  1. - IF the server recognizes the parameter as a parameter

defined in the Host Requirements Document, the server MUST

         include the default value for that parameter as given in the
         Host Requirements Document in an appropriate option in the
         'option' field, ELSE
  1. - The server MUST NOT return a value for that parameter,

Droms Standards Track [Page 29] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

   The server MUST supply as many of the requested parameters as
   possible and MUST omit any parameters it cannot provide.  The
   server MUST include each requested parameter only once unless
   explicitly allowed in the DHCP Options and BOOTP Vendor
   Extensions document.
 o Any parameters from the existing binding that differ from the Host
   Requirements Document defaults,
 o Any parameters specific to this client (as identified by
   the contents of 'chaddr' or 'client identifier' in the DHCPDISCOVER
   or DHCPREQUEST message), e.g., as configured by the network
   administrator,
 o Any parameters specific to this client's class (as identified
   by the contents of the 'vendor class identifier'
   option in the DHCPDISCOVER or DHCPREQUEST message),
   e.g., as configured by the network administrator; the parameters
   MUST be identified by an exact match between the client's vendor
   class identifiers and the client's classes identified in the
   server,
 o Parameters with non-default values on the client's subnet.
 The server MAY choose to return the 'vendor class identifier' used to
 determine the parameters in the DHCPOFFER message to assist the
 client in selecting which DHCPOFFER to accept.  The server inserts
 the 'xid' field from the DHCPDISCOVER message into the 'xid' field of
 the DHCPOFFER message and sends the DHCPOFFER message to the
 requesting client.

4.3.2 DHCPREQUEST message

 A DHCPREQUEST message may come from a client responding to a
 DHCPOFFER message from a server, from a client verifying a previously
 allocated IP address or from a client extending the lease on a
 network address.  If the DHCPREQUEST message contains a 'server
 identifier' option, the message is in response to a DHCPOFFER
 message.  Otherwise, the message is a request to verify or extend an
 existing lease.  If the client uses a 'client identifier' in a
 DHCPREQUEST message, it MUST use that same 'client identifier' in all
 subsequent messages. If the client included a list of requested
 parameters in a DHCPDISCOVER message, it MUST include that list in
 all subsequent messages.

Droms Standards Track [Page 30] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 Any configuration parameters in the DHCPACK message SHOULD NOT
 conflict with those in the earlier DHCPOFFER message to which the
 client is responding.  The client SHOULD use the parameters in the
 DHCPACK message for configuration.
 Clients send DHCPREQUEST messages as follows:
 o DHCPREQUEST generated during SELECTING state:
    Client inserts the address of the selected server in 'server
    identifier', 'ciaddr' MUST be zero, 'requested IP address' MUST be
    filled in with the yiaddr value from the chosen DHCPOFFER.
    Note that the client may choose to collect several DHCPOFFER
    messages and select the "best" offer.  The client indicates its
    selection by identifying the offering server in the DHCPREQUEST
    message.  If the client receives no acceptable offers, the client
    may choose to try another DHCPDISCOVER message.  Therefore, the
    servers may not receive a specific DHCPREQUEST from which they can
    decide whether or not the client has accepted the offer.  Because
    the servers have not committed any network address assignments on
    the basis of a DHCPOFFER, servers are free to reuse offered
    network addresses in response to subsequent requests.  As an
    implementation detail, servers SHOULD NOT reuse offered addresses
    and may use an implementation-specific timeout mechanism to decide
    when to reuse an offered address.
 o DHCPREQUEST generated during INIT-REBOOT state:
    'server identifier' MUST NOT be filled in, 'requested IP address'
    option MUST be filled in with client's notion of its previously
    assigned address. 'ciaddr' MUST be zero. The client is seeking to
    verify a previously allocated, cached configuration. Server SHOULD
    send a DHCPNAK message to the client if the 'requested IP address'
    is incorrect, or is on the wrong network.
    Determining whether a client in the INIT-REBOOT state is on the
    correct network is done by examining the contents of 'giaddr', the
    'requested IP address' option, and a database lookup. If the DHCP
    server detects that the client is on the wrong net (i.e., the
    result of applying the local subnet mask or remote subnet mask (if
    'giaddr' is not zero) to 'requested IP address' option value
    doesn't match reality), then the server SHOULD send a DHCPNAK
    message to the client.

Droms Standards Track [Page 31] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

    If the network is correct, then the DHCP server should check if
    the client's notion of its IP address is correct. If not, then the
    server SHOULD send a DHCPNAK message to the client. If the DHCP
    server has no record of this client, then it MUST remain silent,
    and MAY output a warning to the network administrator. This
    behavior is necessary for peaceful coexistence of non-
    communicating DHCP servers on the same wire.
    If 'giaddr' is 0x0 in the DHCPREQUEST message, the client is on
    the same subnet as the server.  The server MUST broadcast the
    DHCPNAK message to the 0xffffffff broadcast address because the
    client may not have a correct network address or subnet mask, and
    the client may not be answering ARP requests.
    If 'giaddr' is set in the DHCPREQUEST message, the client is on a
    different subnet.  The server MUST set the broadcast bit in the
    DHCPNAK, so that the relay agent will broadcast the DHCPNAK to the
    client, because the client may not have a correct network address
    or subnet mask, and the client may not be answering ARP requests.
 o DHCPREQUEST generated during RENEWING state:
    'server identifier' MUST NOT be filled in, 'requested IP address'
    option MUST NOT be filled in, 'ciaddr' MUST be filled in with
    client's IP address. In this situation, the client is completely
    configured, and is trying to extend its lease. This message will
    be unicast, so no relay agents will be involved in its
    transmission.  Because 'giaddr' is therefore not filled in, the
    DHCP server will trust the value in 'ciaddr', and use it when
    replying to the client.
    A client MAY choose to renew or extend its lease prior to T1.  The
    server may choose not to extend the lease (as a policy decision by
    the network administrator), but should return a DHCPACK message
    regardless.
 o DHCPREQUEST generated during REBINDING state:
    'server identifier' MUST NOT be filled in, 'requested IP address'
    option MUST NOT be filled in, 'ciaddr' MUST be filled in with
    client's IP address. In this situation, the client is completely
    configured, and is trying to extend its lease. This message MUST
    be broadcast to the 0xffffffff IP broadcast address.  The DHCP
    server SHOULD check 'ciaddr' for correctness before replying to
    the DHCPREQUEST.

Droms Standards Track [Page 32] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

    The DHCPREQUEST from a REBINDING client is intended to accommodate
    sites that have multiple DHCP servers and a mechanism for
    maintaining consistency among leases managed by multiple servers.
    A DHCP server MAY extend a client's lease only if it has local
    administrative authority to do so.

4.3.3 DHCPDECLINE message

 If the server receives a DHCPDECLINE message, the client has
 discovered through some other means that the suggested network
 address is already in use.  The server MUST mark the network address
 as not available and SHOULD notify the local system administrator of
 a possible configuration problem.

4.3.4 DHCPRELEASE message

 Upon receipt of a DHCPRELEASE message, the server marks the network
 address as not allocated.  The server SHOULD retain a record of the
 client's initialization parameters for possible reuse in response to
 subsequent requests from the client.

4.3.5 DHCPINFORM message

 The server responds to a DHCPINFORM message by sending a DHCPACK
 message directly to the address given in the 'ciaddr' field of the
 DHCPINFORM message.  The server MUST NOT send a lease expiration time
 to the client and SHOULD NOT fill in 'yiaddr'.  The server includes
 other parameters in the DHCPACK message as defined in section 4.3.1.

4.3.6 Client messages

 Table 4 details the differences between messages from clients in
 various states.
  1. ——————————————————————–

| |INIT-REBOOT |SELECTING |RENEWING |REBINDING |

  1. ——————————————————————–

|broad/unicast |broadcast |broadcast |unicast |broadcast |

 |server-ip     |MUST NOT     |MUST         |MUST NOT     |MUST NOT  |
 |requested-ip  |MUST         |MUST         |MUST NOT     |MUST NOT  |
 |ciaddr        |zero         |zero         |IP address   |IP address|
 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
            Table 4: Client messages from different states

Droms Standards Track [Page 33] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

4.4 DHCP client behavior

 Figure 5 gives a state-transition diagram for a DHCP client.  A
 client can receive the following messages from a server:
       o DHCPOFFER
       o DHCPACK
       o DHCPNAK
 The DHCPINFORM message is not shown in figure 5.  A client simply
 sends the DHCPINFORM and waits for DHCPACK messages.  Once the client
 has selected its parameters, it has completed the configuration
 process.
 Table 5 gives the use of the fields and options in a DHCP message by
 a client.  The remainder of this section describes the action of the
 DHCP client for each possible incoming message.  The description in
 the following section corresponds to the full configuration procedure
 previously described in section 3.1, and the text in the subsequent
 section corresponds to the abbreviated configuration procedure
 described in section 3.2.

Droms Standards Track [Page 34] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

——– ——-

+————————–>
INIT- +——————–> INIT
REBOOT DHCPNAK/ +———→ ←–+
Restart ——-

——– | DHCPNAK/ | | |

  |      Discard offer   |      -/Send DHCPDISCOVER               |

-/Send DHCPREQUEST | | |

  |      |     |      DHCPACK            v        |               |

———– | (not accept.)/ ———– | |

Send DHCPDECLINE
REBOOTING SELECTING ←—+
/ DHCPOFFER/

———– | / ———– | |Collect |

  |            |      /                  |   |       |  replies   |

DHCPACK/ | / +—————-+ +——-+ | Record lease, set| | v Select offer/ | timers T1, T2 ———— send DHCPREQUEST | |

  |   +----->|            |             DHCPNAK, Lease expired/   |
  |   |      | REQUESTING |                  Halt network         |
  DHCPOFFER/ |            |                       |               |
  Discard     ------------                        |               |
  |   |        |        |                   -----------           |
  |   +--------+     DHCPACK/              |           |          |
  |              Record lease, set    -----| REBINDING |          |
  |                timers T1, T2     /     |           |          |
  |                     |        DHCPACK/   -----------           |
  |                     v     Record lease, set   ^               |
  +----------------> -------      /timers T1,T2   |               |
             +----->|       |<---+                |               |
             |      | BOUND |<---+                |               |
DHCPOFFER, DHCPACK, |       |    |            T2 expires/   DHCPNAK/
 DHCPNAK/Discard     -------     |             Broadcast  Halt network
             |       | |         |            DHCPREQUEST         |
             +-------+ |        DHCPACK/          |               |
                  T1 expires/   Record lease, set |               |
               Send DHCPREQUEST timers T1, T2     |               |
               to leasing server |                |               |
                       |   ----------             |               |
                       |  |          |------------+               |
                       +->| RENEWING |                            |
                          |          |----------------------------+
                           ----------
        Figure 5:  State-transition diagram for DHCP clients

Droms Standards Track [Page 35] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

4.4.1 Initialization and allocation of network address

 The client begins in INIT state and forms a DHCPDISCOVER message.
 The client SHOULD wait a random time between one and ten seconds to
 desynchronize the use of DHCP at startup.  The client sets 'ciaddr'
 to 0x00000000.  The client MAY request specific parameters by
 including the 'parameter request list' option.  The client MAY
 suggest a network address and/or lease time by including the
 'requested IP address' and 'IP address lease time' options.  The
 client MUST include its hardware address in the 'chaddr' field, if
 necessary for delivery of DHCP reply messages.  The client MAY
 include a different unique identifier in the 'client identifier'
 option, as discussed in section 4.2.  If the client included a list
 of requested parameters in a DHCPDISCOVER message, it MUST include
 that list in all subsequent messages.
 The client generates and records a random transaction identifier and
 inserts that identifier into the 'xid' field.  The client records its
 own local time for later use in computing the lease expiration.  The
 client then broadcasts the DHCPDISCOVER on the local hardware
 broadcast address to the 0xffffffff IP broadcast address and 'DHCP
 server' UDP port.
 If the 'xid' of an arriving DHCPOFFER message does not match the
 'xid' of the most recent DHCPDISCOVER message, the DHCPOFFER message
 must be silently discarded.  Any arriving DHCPACK messages must be
 silently discarded.
 The client collects DHCPOFFER messages over a period of time, selects
 one DHCPOFFER message from the (possibly many) incoming DHCPOFFER
 messages (e.g., the first DHCPOFFER message or the DHCPOFFER message
 from the previously used server) and extracts the server address from
 the 'server identifier' option in the DHCPOFFER message.  The time
 over which the client collects messages and the mechanism used to
 select one DHCPOFFER are implementation dependent.

Droms Standards Track [Page 36] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

Field DHCPDISCOVER DHCPREQUEST DHCPDECLINE,

         DHCPINFORM                                  DHCPRELEASE

—– ———— ———– ———– 'op' BOOTREQUEST BOOTREQUEST BOOTREQUEST 'htype' (From "Assigned Numbers" RFC) 'hlen' (Hardware address length in octets) 'hops' 0 0 0 'xid' selected by client 'xid' from server selected by

                               DHCPOFFER message     client

'secs' 0 or seconds since 0 or seconds since 0

         DHCP process started  DHCP process started

'flags' Set 'BROADCAST' Set 'BROADCAST' 0

         flag if client        flag if client
         requires broadcast    requires broadcast
         reply                 reply

'ciaddr' 0 (DHCPDISCOVER) 0 or client's 0 (DHCPDECLINE)

         client's              network address       client's network
         network address       (BOUND/RENEW/REBIND)  address
         (DHCPINFORM)                                (DHCPRELEASE)

'yiaddr' 0 0 0 'siaddr' 0 0 0 'giaddr' 0 0 0 'chaddr' client's hardware client's hardware client's hardware

         address               address               address

'sname' options, if options, if (unused)

         indicated in          indicated in
         'sname/file'          'sname/file'
         option; otherwise     option; otherwise
         unused                unused

'file' options, if options, if (unused)

         indicated in          indicated in
         'sname/file'          'sname/file'
         option; otherwise     option; otherwise
         unused                unused

'options' options options (unused)

Droms Standards Track [Page 37] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

Option DHCPDISCOVER DHCPREQUEST DHCPDECLINE,

                         DHCPINFORM                     DHCPRELEASE

—— ———— ———– ———– Requested IP address MAY MUST (in MUST

                         (DISCOVER)    SELECTING or     (DHCPDECLINE),
                         MUST NOT      INIT-REBOOT)     MUST NOT
                         (INFORM)      MUST NOT (in     (DHCPRELEASE)
                                       BOUND or
                                       RENEWING)

IP address lease time MAY MAY MUST NOT

                         (DISCOVER)
                         MUST NOT
                         (INFORM)

Use 'file'/'sname' fields MAY MAY MAY DHCP message type DHCPDISCOVER/ DHCPREQUEST DHCPDECLINE/

                         DHCPINFORM                     DHCPRELEASE

Client identifier MAY MAY MAY Vendor class identifier MAY MAY MUST NOT Server identifier MUST NOT MUST (after MUST

                                       SELECTING)
                                       MUST NOT (after
                                       INIT-REBOOT,
                                       BOUND, RENEWING
                                       or REBINDING)

Parameter request list MAY MAY MUST NOT Maximum message size MAY MAY MUST NOT Message SHOULD NOT SHOULD NOT SHOULD Site-specific MAY MAY MUST NOT All others MAY MAY MUST NOT

           Table 5:  Fields and options used by DHCP clients
 If the parameters are acceptable, the client records the address of
 the server that supplied the parameters from the 'server identifier'
 field and sends that address in the 'server identifier' field of a
 DHCPREQUEST broadcast message.  Once the DHCPACK message from the
 server arrives, the client is initialized and moves to BOUND state.
 The DHCPREQUEST message contains the same 'xid' as the DHCPOFFER
 message.  The client records the lease expiration time as the sum of
 the time at which the original request was sent and the duration of
 the lease from the DHCPACK message.    The client SHOULD perform a
 check on the suggested address to ensure that the address is not
 already in use.  For example, if the client is on a network that
 supports ARP, the client may issue an ARP request for the suggested
 request.  When broadcasting an ARP request for the suggested address,
 the client must fill in its own hardware address as the sender's
 hardware address, and 0 as the sender's IP address, to avoid
 confusing ARP caches in other hosts on the same subnet.  If the

Droms Standards Track [Page 38] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 network address appears to be in use, the client MUST send a
 DHCPDECLINE message to the server. The client SHOULD broadcast an ARP
 reply to announce the client's new IP address and clear any outdated
 ARP cache entries in hosts on the client's subnet.

4.4.2 Initialization with known network address

 The client begins in INIT-REBOOT state and sends a DHCPREQUEST
 message.  The client MUST insert its known network address as a
 'requested IP address' option in the DHCPREQUEST message.  The client
 may request specific configuration parameters by including the
 'parameter request list' option.  The client generates and records a
 random transaction identifier and inserts that identifier into the
 'xid' field.  The client records its own local time for later use in
 computing the lease expiration.  The client MUST NOT include a
 'server identifier' in the DHCPREQUEST message.  The client then
 broadcasts the DHCPREQUEST on the local hardware broadcast address to
 the 'DHCP server' UDP port.
 Once a DHCPACK message with an 'xid' field matching that in the
 client's DHCPREQUEST message arrives from any server, the client is
 initialized and moves to BOUND state.  The client records the lease
 expiration time as the sum of the time at which the DHCPREQUEST
 message was sent and the duration of the lease from the DHCPACK
 message.

4.4.3 Initialization with an externally assigned network address

 The client sends a DHCPINFORM message. The client may request
 specific configuration parameters by including the 'parameter request
 list' option. The client generates and records a random transaction
 identifier and inserts that identifier into the 'xid' field. The
 client places its own network address in the 'ciaddr' field. The
 client SHOULD NOT request lease time parameters.
 The client then unicasts the DHCPINFORM to the DHCP server if it
 knows the server's address, otherwise it broadcasts the message to
 the limited (all 1s) broadcast address.  DHCPINFORM messages MUST be
 directed to the 'DHCP server' UDP port.
 Once a DHCPACK message with an 'xid' field matching that in the
 client's DHCPINFORM message arrives from any server, the client is
 initialized.
 If the client does not receive a DHCPACK within a reasonable period
 of time (60 seconds or 4 tries if using timeout suggested in section
 4.1), then it SHOULD display a message informing the user of the
 problem, and then SHOULD begin network processing using suitable

Droms Standards Track [Page 39] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 defaults as per Appendix A.

4.4.4 Use of broadcast and unicast

 The DHCP client broadcasts DHCPDISCOVER, DHCPREQUEST and DHCPINFORM
 messages, unless the client knows the address of a DHCP server.  The
 client unicasts DHCPRELEASE messages to the server.  Because the
 client is declining the use of the IP address supplied by the server,
 the client broadcasts DHCPDECLINE messages.
 When the DHCP client knows the address of a DHCP server, in either
 INIT or REBOOTING state, the client may use that address in the
 DHCPDISCOVER or DHCPREQUEST rather than the IP broadcast address.
 The client may also use unicast to send DHCPINFORM messages to a
 known DHCP server.  If the client receives no response to DHCP
 messages sent to the IP address of a known DHCP server, the DHCP
 client reverts to using the IP broadcast address.

4.4.5 Reacquisition and expiration

 The client maintains two times, T1 and T2, that specify the times at
 which the client tries to extend its lease on its network address.
 T1 is the time at which the client enters the RENEWING state and
 attempts to contact the server that originally issued the client's
 network address.  T2 is the time at which the client enters the
 REBINDING state and attempts to contact any server. T1 MUST be
 earlier than T2, which, in turn, MUST be earlier than the time at
 which the client's lease will expire.
 To avoid the need for synchronized clocks, T1 and T2 are expressed in
 options as relative times [2].
 At time T1 the client moves to RENEWING state and sends (via unicast)
 a DHCPREQUEST message to the server to extend its lease.  The client
 sets the 'ciaddr' field in the DHCPREQUEST to its current network
 address. The client records the local time at which the DHCPREQUEST
 message is sent for computation of the lease expiration time.  The
 client MUST NOT include a 'server identifier' in the DHCPREQUEST
 message.
 Any DHCPACK messages that arrive with an 'xid' that does not match
 the 'xid' of the client's DHCPREQUEST message are silently discarded.
 When the client receives a DHCPACK from the server, the client
 computes the lease expiration time as the sum of the time at which
 the client sent the DHCPREQUEST message and the duration of the lease
 in the DHCPACK message.  The client has successfully reacquired its
 network address, returns to BOUND state and may continue network
 processing.

Droms Standards Track [Page 40] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 If no DHCPACK arrives before time T2, the client moves to REBINDING
 state and sends (via broadcast) a DHCPREQUEST message to extend its
 lease.  The client sets the 'ciaddr' field in the DHCPREQUEST to its
 current network address.  The client MUST NOT include a 'server
 identifier' in the DHCPREQUEST message.
 Times T1 and T2 are configurable by the server through options.  T1
 defaults to (0.5 * duration_of_lease).  T2 defaults to (0.875 *
 duration_of_lease).  Times T1 and T2 SHOULD be chosen with some
 random "fuzz" around a fixed value, to avoid synchronization of
 client reacquisition.
 A client MAY choose to renew or extend its lease prior to T1.  The
 server MAY choose to extend the client's lease according to policy
 set by the network administrator.  The server SHOULD return T1 and
 T2, and their values SHOULD be adjusted from their original values to
 take account of the time remaining on the lease.
 In both RENEWING and REBINDING states, if the client receives no
 response to its DHCPREQUEST message, the client SHOULD wait one-half
 of the remaining time until T2 (in RENEWING state) and one-half of
 the remaining lease time (in REBINDING state), down to a minimum of
 60 seconds, before retransmitting the DHCPREQUEST message.
 If the lease expires before the client receives a DHCPACK, the client
 moves to INIT state, MUST immediately stop any other network
 processing and requests network initialization parameters as if the
 client were uninitialized.  If the client then receives a DHCPACK
 allocating that client its previous network address, the client
 SHOULD continue network processing.  If the client is given a new
 network address, it MUST NOT continue using the previous network
 address and SHOULD notify the local users of the problem.

4.4.6 DHCPRELEASE

 If the client no longer requires use of its assigned network address
 (e.g., the client is gracefully shut down), the client sends a
 DHCPRELEASE message to the server.  Note that the correct operation
 of DHCP does not depend on the transmission of DHCPRELEASE messages.

Droms Standards Track [Page 41] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

5. Acknowledgments

 The author thanks the many (and too numerous to mention!) members of
 the DHC WG for their tireless and ongoing efforts in the development
 of DHCP and this document.
 The efforts of J Allard, Mike Carney, Dave Lapp, Fred Lien and John
 Mendonca in organizing DHCP interoperability testing sessions are
 gratefully acknowledged.
 The development of this document was supported in part by grants from
 the Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI), Bucknell
 University and Sun Microsystems.

6. References

 [1] Acetta, M., "Resource Location Protocol", RFC 887, CMU, December
     1983.
 [2] Alexander, S., and R. Droms, "DHCP Options and BOOTP Vendor
     Extensions", RFC 1533, Lachman Technology, Inc., Bucknell
     University, October 1993.
 [3] Braden, R., Editor, "Requirements for Internet Hosts --
     Communication Layers", STD 3, RFC 1122, USC/Information Sciences
     Institute, October 1989.
 [4] Braden, R., Editor, "Requirements for Internet Hosts --
     Application and Support, STD 3, RFC 1123, USC/Information
     Sciences Institute, October 1989.
 [5] Brownell, D, "Dynamic Reverse Address Resolution Protocol
     (DRARP)", Work in Progress.
 [6] Comer, D., and R. Droms, "Uniform Access to Internet Directory
     Services", Proc. of ACM SIGCOMM '90 (Special issue of Computer
     Communications Review), 20(4):50--59, 1990.
 [7] Croft, B., and J. Gilmore, "Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP)", RFC 951,
     Stanford and SUN Microsystems, September 1985.
 [8] Deering, S., "ICMP Router Discovery Messages", RFC 1256, Xerox
     PARC, September 1991.
 [9] Droms, D., "Interoperation between DHCP and BOOTP", RFC 1534,
     Bucknell University, October 1993.

Droms Standards Track [Page 42] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 [10] Finlayson, R., Mann, T., Mogul, J., and M. Theimer, "A Reverse
      Address Resolution Protocol", RFC 903, Stanford, June 1984.
 [11] Gray C., and D. Cheriton, "Leases: An Efficient Fault-Tolerant
      Mechanism for Distributed File Cache Consistency", In Proc. of
      the Twelfth ACM Symposium on Operating Systems Design, 1989.
 [12] Mockapetris, P., "Domain Names -- Concepts and Facilities", STD
      13, RFC 1034, USC/Information Sciences Institute, November 1987.
 [13] Mockapetris, P., "Domain Names -- Implementation and
      Specification", STD 13, RFC 1035, USC/Information Sciences
      Institute, November 1987.
 [14] Mogul J., and S. Deering, "Path MTU Discovery", RFC 1191,
      November 1990.
 [15] Morgan, R., "Dynamic IP Address Assignment for Ethernet Attached
      Hosts", Work in Progress.
 [16] Postel, J., "Internet Control Message Protocol", STD 5, RFC 792,
      USC/Information Sciences Institute, September 1981.
 [17] Reynolds, J., "BOOTP Vendor Information Extensions", RFC 1497,
      USC/Information Sciences Institute, August 1993.
 [18] Reynolds, J., and J. Postel, "Assigned Numbers", STD 2, RFC 1700,
      USC/Information Sciences Institute, October 1994.
 [19] Jeffrey Schiller and Mark Rosenstein. A Protocol for the Dynamic
      Assignment of IP Addresses for use on an Ethernet. (Available
      from the Athena Project, MIT), 1989.
 [20] Sollins, K., "The TFTP Protocol (Revision 2)",  RFC 783, NIC,
      June 1981.
 [21] Wimer, W., "Clarifications and Extensions for the Bootstrap
      Protocol", RFC 1542, Carnegie Mellon University, October 1993.

7. Security Considerations

 DHCP is built directly on UDP and IP which are as yet inherently
 insecure.  Furthermore, DHCP is generally intended to make
 maintenance of remote and/or diskless hosts easier.  While perhaps
 not impossible, configuring such hosts with passwords or keys may be
 difficult and inconvenient.  Therefore, DHCP in its current form is
 quite insecure.

Droms Standards Track [Page 43] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

 Unauthorized DHCP servers may be easily set up.  Such servers can
 then send false and potentially disruptive information to clients
 such as incorrect or duplicate IP addresses, incorrect routing
 information (including spoof routers, etc.), incorrect domain
 nameserver addresses (such as spoof nameservers), and so on.
 Clearly, once this seed information is in place, an attacker can
 further compromise affected systems.
 Malicious DHCP clients could masquerade as legitimate clients and
 retrieve information intended for those legitimate clients.  Where
 dynamic allocation of resources is used, a malicious client could
 claim all resources for itself, thereby denying resources to
 legitimate clients.

8. Author's Address

    Ralph Droms
    Computer Science Department
    323 Dana Engineering
    Bucknell University
    Lewisburg, PA 17837
    Phone: (717) 524-1145
    EMail: droms@bucknell.edu

Droms Standards Track [Page 44] RFC 2131 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol March 1997

A. Host Configuration Parameters

 IP-layer_parameters,_per_host:_
 Be a router                     on/off                 HRC 3.1
 Non-local source routing        on/off                 HRC 3.3.5
 Policy filters for
 non-local source routing        (list)                 HRC 3.3.5
 Maximum reassembly size         integer                HRC 3.3.2
 Default TTL                     integer                HRC 3.2.1.7
 PMTU aging timeout              integer                MTU 6.6
 MTU plateau table               (list)                 MTU 7
 IP-layer_parameters,_per_interface:_
 IP address                      (address)              HRC 3.3.1.6
 Subnet mask                     (address mask)         HRC 3.3.1.6
 MTU                             integer                HRC 3.3.3
 All-subnets-MTU                 on/off                 HRC 3.3.3
 Broadcast address flavor        0x00000000/0xffffffff  HRC 3.3.6
 Perform mask discovery          on/off                 HRC 3.2.2.9
 Be a mask supplier              on/off                 HRC 3.2.2.9
 Perform router discovery        on/off                 RD 5.1
 Router solicitation address     (address)              RD 5.1
 Default routers, list of:
         router address          (address)              HRC 3.3.1.6
         preference level        integer                HRC 3.3.1.6
 Static routes, list of:
         destination             (host/subnet/net)      HRC 3.3.1.2
         destination mask        (address mask)         HRC 3.3.1.2
         type-of-service         integer                HRC 3.3.1.2
         first-hop router        (address)              HRC 3.3.1.2
         ignore redirects        on/off                 HRC 3.3.1.2
         PMTU                    integer                MTU 6.6
         perform PMTU discovery  on/off                 MTU 6.6
 Link-layer_parameters,_per_interface:_
 Trailers                       on/off                 HRC 2.3.1
 ARP cache timeout              integer                HRC 2.3.2.1
 Ethernet encapsulation         (RFC 894/RFC 1042)     HRC 2.3.3
 TCP_parameters,_per_host:_
 TTL                            integer                HRC 4.2.2.19
 Keep-alive interval            integer                HRC 4.2.3.6
 Keep-alive data size           0/1                    HRC 4.2.3.6

Key:

 MTU = Path MTU Discovery (RFC 1191, Proposed Standard)
 RD = Router Discovery (RFC 1256, Proposed Standard)

Droms Standards Track [Page 45]

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