RFC 1534 (rfc1534) - Page 1 of 4


Interoperation Between DHCP and BOOTP



Alternative Format: Original Text Document



Network Working Group                                           R. Droms
Request for Comments: 1534                           Bucknell University
Category: Standards Track                                   October 1993


                 Interoperation Between DHCP and BOOTP

Status of this Memo

   This RFC specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
   Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
   improvements.  Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
   Official Protocol Standards" for the standardization state and status
   of this protocol.  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

   DHCP provides a superset of the functions provided by BOOTP. This
   document describes the interactions between DHCP and BOOTP network
   participants.

1. Introduction

   The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) provides a mechanism
   for transmitting configuration parameters to hosts using the TCP/IP
   protocol suite.  The format of DHCP messages is based on the format
   of BOOTP messages, so that, in certain circumstances, DHCP and BOOTP
   participants may exchange messages.  This document specifies the ways
   in which DHCP and BOOTP participants may interoperate.

   DHCP introduces a small change in terminology intended to clarify the
   meaning of one of the fields.  What was the "vendor extensions" field
   in BOOTP has been re-named the "options" field in DHCP.  Similarly,
   the tagged data items that were used inside the BOOTP "vendor
   extensions" field, which were formerly referred to as "vendor
   extensions", are now termed simply "options".  This document will
   refer to BOOTP vendor extensions and DHCP options uniformly as
   "options".

   Throughout this document, DHCP messages that include a 'DHCP message
   type' option will be referred to by the type of the message; e.g., a
   DHCP message with 'DHCP message type' option type 1 will be referred
   to as a "DHCPDISCOVER" message.








Droms