What is Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)

About Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Server

A Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server is a computer that has Windows Server 2008 R2 installed on it, and is responsible for assigning IP addresses to the computers automatically. IP addresses assigned to the computers by DHCP server are known as dynamic IP addresses, and the computers that are configured to obtain the IP addresses automatically from the DHCP server are called DHCP client computers.

During DHCP server configuration, administrators specify a range of IP addresses in the DHCP scope. All IP addresses that fall within the specified range are stored in IP Address Pool. Every time a DHCP client computer requests an IP address from a DHCP server, the server randomly picks up any one of the available IP addresses from its address pool and assigns it to the requesting client computer. This process is known as dynamic IP address assignment.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) IP Address Assignment Process

The process of IP address assignment completes in four steps called 

DORA where :-

D represents DHCP Discover, 

O represents DHCP Offer, 

R represents DHCP Request and

A represents DHCP Acknowledge. 

Description of DORA is as below :-

1. DHCP Discover – DHCP Discover is a broadcast packet that is sent from a DHCP client computer. DHCP Discover packet is broadcasted to search for all available DHCP servers in the network. Since it is a broadcast packet, it is received by all the computers connected to the network (including all available DHCP servers) without exceptions.
2. DHCP Offer – DHCP Offer is a unicast packet that is sent from the DHCP server to the requesting DHCP client computer in response to the received broadcasted DHCP Discover packet. DHCP Offer packet contains an available IP address from the address pool, offering it to the requesting DHCP client computer.
3. DHCP Request – DHCP Request is a unicast packet sent from a DHCP client computer to a DHCP server from which it has received DHCP Offer packet. DHCP client computer sends DHCP Request packet requesting the DHCP server to assign the offered IP address.
4. DHCP Acknowledge – DHCP Acknowledge is a unicast packet sent from the DHCP server to the DHCP client computer confirming the successful assignment of the requested IP address.

Install and Configure Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) on Windows Server 2008 R2 Download this file

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