6-16 DHCP/BOOTP Client ConfigurationWhen configuring the DHCP/BOOTP client, go to these sections for information you are interested in:z Introduction to DHCP Clientz Introduction to BOOTP Clientz Configuring a DHCP/BOOTP Clientz Displaying DHCP/BOOTP Client ConfigurationIntroduction to DHCP ClientAfter you specify a VLAN interface as a DHCP client, the device can use DHCP to obtain parameterssuch as IP address dynamically from the DHCP server, which facilitates user configuration andmanagement.Refer to Obtaining IP Addresses Dynamically for the process of how a DHCP client dynamically obtainsan IP address through DHCP.For S4500 series Ethernet switches (operating as DHCP clients), the vendor and device informationcontained in Option 60 of DHCP requests is not configurable; instead, it is populated by the applicationprogram of the switches in the format of vendor-name. vendor-name device-model.Introduction to BOOTP ClientAfter you specify an interface as a Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP) client, the interface can use BOOTP toget information (such as IP address) from the BOOTP server, which simplifies your configuration.Before using BOOTP, an administrator needs to configure a BOOTP parameter file for each BOOTPclient on the BOOTP server. The parameter file contains information such as MAC address and IPaddress of a BOOTP client. When a BOOTP client sends a request to the BOOTP server, the BOOTPserver will search for the BOOTP parameter file and return it to the client.A BOOTP client dynamically obtains an IP address from a BOOTP server in the following way:1) The BOOTP client broadcasts a BOOTP request, which contains its own MAC address.2) The BOOTP server receives the request and searches for the corresponding IP address accordingto the MAC address of the BOOTP client and sends the information in a BOOTP response to theBOOTP client.3) The BOOTP client obtains the IP address from the received response.Because a DHCP server can interact with a BOOTP client, you can use the DHCP server to assign anIP address to the BOOTP client, without needing to configure any BOOTP server.
