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| The five-layer TCP/IP model |
| 5. Application layer |
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DHCP · DNS · FTP · Gopher · HTTP · IMAP4 · IRC · NNTP · XMPP · POP3 · RTP · SIP · SMTP · SNMP · SSH · TELNET · RPC · RTCP · RTSP · TLS (and SSL) · SDP · SOAP · GTP · STUN · NTP · (more) |
| 4. Transport layer |
| TCP · UDP · DCCP · SCTP · RSVP · (more) |
| 3. Network/Internet layer |
| IP (IPv4 · IPv6) · OSPF · IS-IS · BGP · IPsec · ARP · RARP · RIP · ICMP · ICMPv6 ·IGMP · (more) |
| 2. Data link layer |
| 802.11 (WLAN) · 802.16 · Wi-Fi · WiMAX · ATM · DTM · Token ring · Ethernet · FDDI · Frame Relay · GPRS · EVDO · HSPA · HDLC · PPP · PPTP · L2TP · ISDN · ARCnet · (more) |
| 1. Physical layer |
| Ethernet physical layer · Modems · PLC · SONET/SDH · G.709 · Optical fiber · Coaxial cable · Twisted pair · (more) |
"DHCP" redirects here. This article is about the networking protocol. For other uses, see DHCP (disambiguation).
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a protocol used by networked devices (clients) to obtain various parameters necessary for the clients to operate in an Internet Protocol (IP) network. By using this protocol, system administration workload greatly decreases, and devices can be added to the network with minimal or no manual configurations.
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Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is a way to administer network parameter assignment at a single DHCP server, or a group of such servers arranged in a fault-tolerant manner. Even in a network which has a few machines, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is useful, because a machine can be added to the local network with little effort.
Even for servers whose addresses rarely change, DHCP is recommended for setting their addresses, so if the servers need to be readdressed (RFC2071), the changes need to be made in as few places as possible. For devices, such as routers and firewalls, that should not use DHCP, it can be useful to put Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) or SSH servers on the same machine that runs DHCP, again to centralize administration.
DHCP is also useful for directly assigning addresses to servers and desktop machines, and, through a Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) proxy, for dialup and broadband on-demand hosts, as well as for residential Network address translation (NAT) gateways and routers. DHCP is usually not appropriate for infrastructure such as non-edge routers and DNS servers.
DHCP emerged as a standard protocol in October 1993 as defined in RFC 1531, succeeding the BOOTP protocol. The next RFC was 2131, released in 1997. The current DHCP definition can be found in RFC 2131, while a proposed standard for DHCP over IPv6 (DHCPv6) can be found in RFC 3315.
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) automates the assignment of IP addresses, subnet masks, default gateway, and other IP parameters. Lemon, Ted; Droms, Ralph (2003). The DHCP handbook. Indianapolis: SAMS. ISBN 0-672-32327-3.
When a DHCP-configured client (be it a computer or any other network aware device) connects to a network, the DHCP client sends a broadcast query requesting necessary information from a DHCP server. The DHCP server manages a pool of IP addresses and information about client configuration parameters such as the default gateway, the domain name, the DNS servers, other servers such as time servers, and so forth. Upon receipt of a valid request the server will assign the computer an IP address, a lease (the length of time for which the allocation is valid), and other TCP/IP configuration parameters, such as the subnet mask and the default gateway. The query is typically initiated immediately after booting and must be completed before the client can initiate IP-based communication with other hosts.
DHCP provides three modes for allocating IP addresses. The best-known mode is dynamic, in which the client is provided a "lease" on an IP address for a period of time. Depending on the stability of the network, this could range from hours (a wireless network at an airport) to months (for desktops in a wired lab). At any time before the lease expires, the DHCP client can request renewal of the lease on the current IP address. A properly-functioning client will use the renewal mechanism to maintain the same IP address throughout its connection to a single network, otherwise it may risk losing its lease while still connected, thus disrupting network connectivity while it renegotiates with the server for its original or a new IP address.
The two other modes for allocation of IP addresses are automatic (also known as DHCP Reservation), in which the address is permanently assigned to a client, and manual, in which the address is selected by the client (manually by the user or any other means) and the DHCP protocol messages are used to inform the server that the address has been allocated.
The automatic and manual methods are generally used when finer-grained control over IP address is required (typical of tight firewall setups), although typically a firewall will allow access to the range of IP addresses that can be dynamically allocated by the DHCP server.
Due to its standardization before Internet security became an issue, the basic DHCP protocol does not include any security provisions, potentially exposing it to two types of attacks:The TCP/IP Guide - Security Issues
To combat these threats RFC 3118 ("Authentication for DHCP Messages") introduced authentication information into DHCP messages allowing clients and servers to reject information from invalid sources. Although support for this protocol is widespread, a large number of clients and servers still do not fully support authentication, thus forcing servers to support clients that do not support this feature. As a result, other security measures are usually implemented around the DHCP server (such as IPsec) to ensure that only authenticated clients and servers are granted access to the network.
Wherever possible, DHCP-assigned addresses should be dynamically linked to a secure DNS server, to allow troubleshooting by name rather than by a potentially unknown address. Effective DHCP-DNS linkage requires having a file of either MAC addresses or local names that will be sent to DNS that uniquely identifies physical hosts, IP addresses, and other parameters such as the default gateway, subnet mask, and IP addresses of DNS servers from a DHCP server. The DHCP server ensures that all IP addresses are unique, i.e., no IP address is assigned to a second client while the first client\'s assignment is valid (its lease has not expired). Thus IP address pool management is done by the server and not by a network administrator.
Depending on implementation, the DHCP server has three methods of allocating IP-addresses (WARNING--the terminolgy below contradicts the terminolgy above in #Basic_Protocol_Operation):
Some DHCP server software can manage hosts by more than one of the above methods. For example, the known hosts on the network can be assigned an IP address based on their MAC address (manual allocation) whereas "guest" computers (such as laptops via WiFi) are allocated a temporary address out of a pool compatible with the network to which they\'re attached (dynamic allocation).
Firewalls usually have to permit DHCP traffic explicitly. Specification of the DHCP client-server protocol describes several cases when packets must have the source address of 0x00000000 or the destination address of 0xffffffff. Anti-spoofing policy rules and tight inclusive firewalls often stop such packets. Multi-homed DHCP servers require special consideration and further complicate configuration.
To allow DHCP, network administrators need to allow several types of packets through the server-side firewall. All DHCP packets travel as UDP datagrams; all client-sent packets have source port 68 and destination port 67; all server-sent packets have source port 67 and destination port 68. For example, a server-side firewall should allow the following types of packets:
where dhcp-ip represents any address configured on a DHCP server host and dhcp-pool stands for the pool from which a DHCP server assigns addresses to clients
To give an idea of how a configuration would look in production, the following rules for a server-side ipfirewall to allow DHCP traffic through. Dhcpd operates on interface rl0 and assigns addresses from 192.168.0.0/24 :
pass udp from 0.0.0.0,192.168.0.0/24 68 to me 67 in recv rl0 pass udp from any 68 to 255.255.255.255 67 in recv rl0 pass udp from me 67 to 192.168.0.0/24,255.255.255.255 68 out xmit rl0
The following entries are valid on a Cisco 3560 switch with enabled DHCP service. The ACL is applied to a routed interface, 10.32.73.129, on input. The subnet is 10.32.73.128/26.
10 permit udp host 0.0.0.0 eq bootpc host 10.32.73.129 eq bootps 20 permit udp 10.32.73.128 0.0.0.63 eq bootpc host 10.32.73.129 eq bootps 30 permit udp any eq bootpc host 255.255.255.255 eq bootps
Schema of a typical DHCP session
DHCP uses the same two IANA assigned ports as BOOTP: 67/udp for the server side, and 68/udp for the client side.
DHCP operations fall into four basic phases. These phases are IP discovery, IP lease offer, IP request, and IP lease acknowledgement.
After the client obtained an IP address, the client may start an address resolution (ARP) query to prevent IP conflicts caused by address pool overlapping of DHCP servers.
The client multicast on the physical subnet to find available servers. Network administrators can configure a local router to forward DHCP packets to a DHCP server on a different subnet. This client-implementation creates a UDP packet with the broadcast destination of 255.255.255.255 or subnet broadcast address.
A client can also request its last-known IP address (in the example below, 192.168.1.100). If the client is still in a network where this IP is valid, the server might grant the request. Otherwise, it depends whether the server is set up as authoritative or not. An authoritative server will deny the request, making the client ask for a new IP immediately. A non-authoritative server simply ignores the request, leading to an implementation dependent time out for the client to give up on the request and ask for a new IP address.
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The client to the DHCP server: either to request more information than the server sent with the original DHCPACK; or to repeat data for a particular application - for example, browsers use DHCP Inform to obtain web proxy settings via WPAD. Such queries do not cause the DHCP server to refresh the IP expiry time in its database.
The client sends a request to the DHCP server to release the DHCP and the client unconfigures its IP address. As clients usually do not know when users may unplug them from the network, the protocol does not mandate the sending of DHCP Release.
A DHCP server can provide optional configuration parameters to the client. RFC 2132 describes the available DHCP options defined by Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) - DHCP and BOOTP PARAMETERS.
The DHCP protocol allows for an infinite number of arbitrary options that can be defined and offered to clients. When using the isc-dhcpd server, the option must first be declared and defined in the global parameters, and then can be offered in any global, range, subnet, or host statement. Other Vendors offer various ways to implement this functionality.
DHCP Option 60 is an option for specifying the Vendor Class Identifier[1]. Based on this option, you can make special decisions about a Set Top Box (STB), for example. The biggest benefit with using DHCP option 60 is that you do not need to define a port to be bridge or router. Bridging is based on the MAC address of the option 60 so a switch could be connected to the SE567 and have both PC\'s and STB\'s on a single interface.
Option 60 can be used by DHCP clients to identify the vendor and functionality of a DHCP client. The information is a variable length string of characters or octets which has a meaning specified by the vendor of the DHCP client. One method that a DHCP client can utilise to communicate to the server that it is using a certain type of hardware or firmware, is to set a value in its DHCP requests called the Vendor Class Identifier (VCI) (Option 60). This method allows a DHCP server to differentiate between the two kinds of client machines and process the requests from the two types of modems appropriately. Some types of set-top boxes also set the VCI (Option 60) to inform the DHCP server about the hardware type and functionality of the device. The value that this option is set to gives the DHCP server a hint about any required extra information that this client needs in a DHCP response.
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from Wikipedia
