A DHCP client uses the DHCP protocol to acquire configuration information, such as an IP address, a default route and one or more DNS server addresses from a DHCP server.

The DHCP client then uses this information to configure its host.

When it receives a request from a client, the DHCP server determines the network to which the DHCP client is connected, and then allocates an IP address or prefix that is appropriate for the client, and sends configuration information appropriate for that client.

Because the DHCP protocol must work correctly even before DHCP clients have been configured, the DHCP server and DHCP client must be connected to the same network link.

DHCP servers send responses back to the relay agent, and the relay agent then sends these responses to the DHCP client on the local network link.

When a DHCP-configured client ( a computer or any other network-aware device ) connects to a network, the DHCP client sends a broadcast query requesting necessary information to a DHCP server.

The DHCP server manages a pool of IP addresses and information about client configuration parameters such as default gateway, domain name, the name servers, other servers such as time servers, and so forth.

* dynamic allocation: A network administrator assigns a range of IP addresses to DHCP, and each client computer on the LAN is configured to request an IP address from the DHCP server during network initialization.

Hosts that do not use DHCP for address configuration may still use it to obtain other configuration information.

Depending on implementation, the DHCP server may have three methods of allocating IP-addresses:

If the client and server are on different subnets, a DHCP Helper or DHCP Relay Agent may be used.

After the client obtains an IP address, the client may use the Address Resolution Protocol ( ARP ) to prevent IP conflicts caused by overlapping address pools of DHCP servers.

As client devices usually do not know when users may unplug them from the network, the protocol does not mandate the sending of DHCP Release.

Some cable modems may incorporate a router and a DHCP server to provide the LAN with IP network addressing.

Because of changes of the client's perceived address resulting from DHCP, network address translation, and web proxies this method may be unreliable.

A separate DHCP server may be configured to assist interfaces equipped with network boot capability to be able to boot over iSCSI.

The war driver's liability may be reduced by setting the computer to a static IP, instead of using DHCP, preventing the network from granting the computer an IP address or logging the connection.

Without zeroconf, a network administrator must set up services, such as Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol ( DHCP ) and Domain Name System ( DNS ), or configure each computer's network settings manually, which may be difficult and time-consuming.

The Proxy DHCP service may also run on the same host as the standard DHCP service.

These techniques may be integrated with the DHCP server so that both dynamic and static IP addresses are certified.

In the context of application design, an address pool may be the availability of a set of addresses ( IP address, MAC address ) available to an application that is shared among its users, or available for allocation to users, such as in host configurations with the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol ( DHCP ).

Network address mappings are dynamically updated so that when a client needs to contact another computer on the network it can get its up-to-date IP address which may be issued by a DHCP server.

Standard autoconfiguration protocols, such as DHCP or IPv6 stateless autoconfiguration may be used over mesh networks.

The terminal discovers its P-CSCF with either DHCP, or it may be configured ( e. g. during initial provisioning or via a 3GPP IMS Management Object ( MO )) or in the ISIM or assigned in the PDP Context ( in General Packet Radio Service ( GPRS )).

DHCP operations fall into four basic phases: IP discovery, IP lease offer, IP request, and IP lease acknowledgement.

A DHCP client can also request its last-known IP address ( in the example below, 192. 168. 1. 100 ).

When a DHCP server receives an IP lease request from a client, it reserves an IP address for the client and extends an IP lease offer by sending a DHCPOFFER message to the client.

In response to the DHCP offer, the client replies with a DHCP request, multicast to the server, requesting the offered address.

In some cases DHCP request message is broadcast, instead of being unicast to a particular DHCP server, because the DHCP client has still not received an IP address.

The client sends a request to the DHCP server to release the DHCP information and the client deactivates its IP address.

# Or, the thin client will use PXE or NetBoot network booting, a part of the onboard Ethernet firmware, to request an IP address and boot server ( the LTSP server ) using the DHCP protocol.

Using the utilities in the initrd, the kernel will request a ( new ) DHCP IP address and the address of a server from which it can mount its root filesystem ( the chroot mentioned above ).

( The X server can also send or packets to start a session-this mechanism for requesting a session resembles using DHCP to request an IP address.

A wireless client would be able to make a DHCP request to a wired DHCP server if the wired and wireless networks were bridged.

On such networks, each network link contains one or more DHCP relay agents.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol automates network-parameter assignment to network devices from one or more DHCP servers.

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol ( DHCP ) is a more advanced protocol for the same purpose and has superseded the use of BOOTP.

The DHCP server maintains a database of available IP addresses and configuration information.

The firmware on the client tries to locate a PXE redirection service on the network ( Proxy DHCP ) in order to receive information about available PXE boot servers.

One specific example is using multicast, where DHCP packets provide the multicast group information rather than an opening RFC-2090 multicast TFTP exchange.

If the DHCP server does not provide the desired information, DNS is used.