HP VPN Firewall Appliances Network Management Configuration Guide

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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 more information about the DHCP relay agent, see
"Configuring the DHCP relay agent."
Figure 80 A typical DHC
P application
NOTE:
A
fter DHCP client is enabled on an interface, the interface can dynamically obtain an IP address and other
configuration parameters from the DHCP server. This facilitates user configuration and centralized
management. For more information about the DHCP client configuration, see "Configuring interfaces
management."
DHCP address allocation
Allocation mechanisms
DHCP supports the following mechanisms for IP address allocation:
• Static allocation—The network administrator assigns an IP address to a client (for example, 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.