H3C Technologies H3C S12500 Series Switches - Manual (Page 39)

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DHCP overview
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) provides a framework to assign configuration
information to network devices.
A DHCP client can obtain an IP address and other configuration parameters from a DHCP server on
another subnet through a DHCP relay agent. For information about the DHCP relay agent, see
" Configuring the DHCP relay agent ."
The term "router" in this document refers to both routers and Layer 3 switches.
Figure 13 A typical DHCP application
DHCP address allocation
Allocation mechanisms
DHCP supports the following mechanisms for IP address allocation:
• Manual allocation—The network administrator assigns an IP address to a client such as a WWW
server, and DHCP conveys the assigned address to the client.
• Automatic allocation—DHCP assigns a permanent IP address to a client.
• Dynamic allocation—DHCP assigns an IP address to a client for a limited period of time, which is
called a lease. Most DHCP clients obtain their addresses in this way.