What Is DHCP
What Is DHCP
What Is DHCP
What is DHCP?
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a client/server
protocol that automatically provides an Internet Protocol (IP) host
with its IP address and other related configuration information
such as the subnet mask and default gateway. RFCs 2131 and
2132 define DHCP as an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
standard based on Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP), a protocol with
which DHCP shares many implementation details. DHCP allows
hosts to obtain necessary TCP/IP configuration information from a
DHCP server.
Note
Benefits of DHCP
In Windows Server 2003, the DHCP Server service provides the
following benefits:
Reliable IP address configuration. DHCP minimizes
configuration errors caused by manual IP address
configuration, such as typographical errors, or address
conflicts caused by the assignment of an IP address to more
than one computer at the same time.
Term Definition