DHCP Operation

In this section we will study the interactions between a client seeking the network information and DHCP server(s) on the network. The steps involved are described in detail here:

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. There may be more than one DHCP server on the network. For this broadcast message to be communicated over all subnets of this network, DHCP servers just running as forwarding agents are required on the switches, bridges, routers, etc.,
2. Each server may respond with a DHCPOFFER message that includes an available network address. Since the client does not have any address yet, the servers broadcast their response on the whole network. The client's name and hardware address are included in the message so that two clients' asking for network address at same time can distinguish the messages.
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 includes the server identifier to indicate which server it has selected.
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 server also send the time period for which lease holds. The client needs to renew the lease before the lease period expires.
5. The client on receiving DHCPACK checks if the network address committed to this device is already in use by some other device. If so, then it sends a DHCPDECLINE message to the server. In this case, the client starts the whole procedure again for attaining an address. If the address is not being used by any other machines, then the client will use that address and also use the parameters sent by server for setting different network parameters.
6. Once the client no more requires an IP address, it may choose to relinquish its lease on a network address by sending a DHCPRELEASE message to the server. The server will then include that IP address in its pool of allocatable addresses.