DHCP

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

CIS 856: TCP/IP and Upper Layer Protocols

Presented by Kyle Getz
October 20, 2005
 Motivation for DHCP
 Configuration parameters for network hosts
 IP address
 Router
 Subnet Mask
 Many more…
 Before DHCP
 Manual assignment
 RARP
 BOOTP
 DHCP Features
 Protocol for providing configuration
parameters to hosts over network
 Dynamic allocation of IP addresses
 Minimal human intervention
Sample Network
DHCP Server
DHCP Clients

UDP Port 68 UDP Port 68 UDP Port 68 UDP Port 67

Router

Internet
 Preliminaries
 (DHCP) Message = DHCP-PDU (A-PDU)
 Client = DHCP Client
 Server = DHCP Server
 Well-known port numbers
 DHCP Server: UDP port 67
 DHCP Client: UDP port 68
 No ephemeral ports
 Broadcast and unicast used for PDU’s in both
directions
 “Broadcast”: link and IP addresses are broadcast
 “Unicast”: link and IP addresses are unicast
 Initial Message Flow
Server A Client Server B
Client attempts to discover
DHCPDISCOVER DHCPDISCOVER available DHCP servers

Servers reply with offers

DHCPOFFER DHCPOFFER
Client collects offers and
decides which offer to accept

Client broadcasts request for

DHCPREQUEST DHCPREQUEST one of the received offers

Server acknowledges client’s

Configuration complete DHCPACK use of IP address

Graceful shutdown Client explicitly releases

DHCPRELEASE use of IP address
 DHCP Message Types

DHCP Message Use

DHCPDISCOVER Client broadcast to locate available servers

DHCPOFFER Server to client response offering configuration parameters

DHCPREQUEST Client broadcast requesting offered parameters

DHCPDECLINE Client to server notification that IP address is in use

DHCPACK Server to client response confirming a request

DHCPNAK Server to client response denying a request

DHCPRELEASE Client to server request to relinquish IP address

DHCPINFORM Client to server request for configuration parameters

 Lease Renewal Times (Client)
 T1 < T2 < Lease time
 T1 default value = 1/2 of lease time
 T2 default value = 7/8 of lease time
 Communicated via DHCPOFFER, DHCPACK
 Client actions when times elapse
 T1: client must renew address with the DHCP server
 T2: client must renew address with any DHCP server
 Lease time: client must stop using IP address
 Renewal Message Flow
Server A Client Server B

T1 elapses

Client unicasts request to

DHCPREQUEST continue using IP address

Server acknowledges
Configuration complete request and updates lease
DHCPACK

T1 elapses

Client unicasts request to

DHCPREQUEST continue using IP address

T2 elapses

Client broadcasts request to

DHCPREQUEST DHCPREQUEST continue using IP address

Server acknowledges request

Configuration complete and updates lease
DHCPACK
 Client FSM (Simplified)
DHCPNAK/
INIT Stop using IP address RENEWING
DHCPNAK,
Lease expires/
T2/Broadcast DHCPREQUEST
Stop using IP
address
REBINDING
DHCPACK/Set T1,T2
DHCPNAK/
Discard offer
DHCPACK (in use)/
DHCPDECLINE
DHCPACK/Set T1,T2 T1/
Unicast
DHCPREQUEST
-/DHCPDISCOVER REQUESTING

Select offer/DHCPREQUEST DHCPACK/Set T1,T2

SELECTING DHCPOFFER/ BOUND

Process offer
 Retransmissions
 Client responsible for all retransmissions
 Retransmission strategy
 Exponential backoff
 Randomized
 Recommendations
 Base delay doubled for each retransmission
 Random number picked from [-1,+1]
 Maximum base delay: 64 seconds
 Server Storage
 Permanent storage
 Pool of available IP addresses
 Local configuration parameters
 Mapping between clients and leases
 Flexibility concerning storage update
 When DHCPOFFER sent
 When DHCPACK sent
 Server Logic (Simplified)

Event Action Taken

DHCPDISCOVER If current lease for client exists, send DHCPOFFER
Else, if IP address available, send DHCPOFFER
Else, do nothing
DHCPREQUEST If IP address available, send DHCPACK
Else, send DHCPNAK
DHCPDECLINE Mark IP address unavailable, notify network administrator

DHCPRELEASE Mark IP address available, delete lease

DHCPINFORM Send DHCPACK with configuration parameters

Lease expiration Mark IP address available, delete lease

 DHCP PDU Format
32 Bits

Operation Code Hardware Type Hardware Length Hop Count

Transaction ID

Seconds Elapsed B Must Be Zero (MBZ)

Client IP address

Your IP address

Server IP address

Relay agent IP address

Client hardware address

(16 bytes)
Server host name
(64 bytes)
Boot file name
(128 bytes)
Magic Cookie Options
(up to 312 bytes)
 DHCP Options
Magic Cookie: 99 130 83 99
4 bytes

Option format:

Code Length Data

1 byte 1 byte Length bytes

Subnet Mask:

1 4 255 255 255 0

One-byte options:

0 Padding

255 End of options

 Another Sample Network
DHCP Clients

Relay Agent within Router Internet

DHCP Server
 Relay Agents
 Remove restriction of having DHCP server on
every network
 Listen for DHCP messages and transmit them
to appropriate machine
 Client to server relay
 Broadcast from client Unicast to server(s)
 Server to client relay
 Broadcast from server  Broadcast to client
 Unicast from server  Unicast to client
Demonstration
 Advanced Topics
 Lease times
 Dynamic DNS
 Reliability
 Security
 Lease Times
 Anywhere from 15 minutes – 1 year
 Common lease times & rationales
 15 minutes: Maximum number of addresses free
 3 days: Microsoft default
 4 months: Students can keep lease over summer
 Tradeoff
 Dynamic DNS
 If IP address changes due to DHCP, DNS
entry is wrong
 Client or server can update DNS
 Option 81: Client FQDN

81 Length Flags rcode1 rcode2 Name…

1 byte 1 byte “Length” bytes
 Reliability
 Two synchronized DHCP servers on the same
network: Primary, Secondary
 Permanent storage constantly communicated
 Failure: Secondary server takes over

Primary Secondary
Server Server
DHCP Clients
 Security
 Potentially unauthorized clients
 Malicious client could exhaust address pool
 Malicious server (Rogue server)
 Supply incorrect configuration parameters
 Supply malicious configuration parameters