1.2 DHCP  
  1.2.2 BOOTP and DHCP differences  
The Internet community first developed the BOOTP protocol to enable configuration of diskless workstations. BOOTP was originally defined in RFC 951 in 1985. As the predecessor of DHCP, BOOTP shares some operational characteristics. Both protocols are client/server based and use UDP ports 67 and 68. Those ports are still known as BOOTP ports.

The four basic IP parameters:

  • IP address
  • Gateway address
  • Subnet mask
  • DNS server address

BOOTP does not dynamically allocate IP addresses to a host. When a client requests an IP address, the BOOTP server searches a predefined table for an entry that matches the MAC address for the client. If an entry exists, then the corresponding IP address for that entry is returned to the client. This means that the binding between the MAC address and the IP address must have already been configured in the BOOTP server.

There are two primary differences between DHCP and BOOTP:

  • DHCP defines mechanisms through which clients can be assigned an IP address for a finite lease period. This lease period allows for reassignment of the IP address to another client later, or for the client to get another assignment, if the client moves to another subnet. Clients may also renew leases and keep the same IP address.
  • DHCP provides the mechanism for a client to gather other IP configuration parameters, such as WINS and domain name.

 

Web Links

BootP Relay Agent Overview

http://support.baynetworks.com/library/ tpubs/html/ router/ soft1200/117362AA/ A_28.HTM#MARKER-9-90