Unless otherwise stated, DHCP is equivalent to ‟DHCP for IPv4,” or DHCPv4.
The DHCP protocol is used to communicate network information and configuration parameters from a DHCP server to a DHCP-aware client. DHCP is based on the BOOTP protocol, with additional configuration options and the capability to allocate dynamic network addresses. DHCP devices are also capable of handling BOOTP messages.
A DHCP client is an IP-capable device (typically a computer or base station) that uses DHCP to obtain configuration parameters, such as a network address. A DHCP server is an Internet host or router that returns configuration parameters to DHCP clients. A DHCP relay agent is a host or router that passes DHCP messages between clients and servers.
DHCPv6 is not based on, and does not use, the BOOTP protocol.
Service providers use the DHCP protocol to assign IP addresses and provide other configuration parameters.
IP routers do not forward broadcast or multicast packets, which might suggest that the DHCP client and server must reside on the same IP network segment. However, this configuration is not required because when the 7210 SAS is acting as a DHCP relay agent, it processes these DHCP broadcast or multicast packets and relays them to a preconfigured DHCP server. As a result, DHCP clients and servers do not need to reside on the same IP network segment.
For DHCP relay, the 7210 SAS supports a maximum of eight DHCP servers for each VPRN or IES instance and eight DHCP servers for each node.
For DHCPv6 relay, the 7210 SAS supports a maximum of eight DHCPv6 servers for each VPRN instance and eight DHCPv6 servers for each node.