HP VPN Firewall Appliances Network Management Configuration Guide

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Configuring BOOTP client
BOOTP client configuration only applies to Layer 3 Ethernet interfaces (including subinterfaces), Layer 3
aggregate interfaces, and VLAN interfaces.
If several VLAN interfaces sharing the same MAC address obtain IP addresses through a BOOTP relay
agent, the BOOTP server cannot be a Windows Server 2000 or Windows Server 2003.
You cannot configure an interface of an aggregation group as a BOOTP client.
BOOTP application
After you specify an interface of a device as a BOOTP client, the interface can use BOOTP to get
information (such as IP address) from the BOOTP server.
To use BOOTP, an administrator must configure a BOOTP parameter file for each BOOTP client on the
BOOTP server. The parameter file contains information such as MAC address and IP address of a
BOOTP client. When a BOOTP client sends a request to the BOOTP server, the BOOTP server searches
for the BOOTP parameter file and returns the corresponding configuration information.
BOOTP is usually used in relatively stable environments. In network environments that change frequently,
DHCP is more suitable.
Because a DHCP server can interact with a BOOTP client, you can use the DHCP server to configure an
IP address for the BOOTP client, without any BOOTP server.
Obtaining an IP address dynamically
A DHCP server can take the place of the BOOTP server in the following dynamic IP address acquisition.
A BOOTP client dynamically obtains an IP address from a BOOTP server as follows:
1. The BOOTP client broadcasts a BOOTP request, which contains its own MAC address.
2. The BOOTP server receives the request and searches the configuration file for the corresponding
IP address and other information according to the MAC address of the BOOTP client.
3. The BOOTP server returns a BOOTP response to the BOOTP client.
4. The BOOTP client obtains the IP address from the received response.
Protocols and standards
• RFC 951, Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP)
• RFC 2132, DHCP Options and BOOTP Vendor Extensions
• RFC 1542, Clarifications and Extensions for the Bootstrap Protocol