ISC DHCP: Enterprise grade solution for configuration needs

https://www.isc.org/downloads/dhcp/

ISC DHCP: Enterprise grade solution for configuration needs

All IP devices need addresses, and ISC DHCP is the easiest and most efficient way to provide them. ISC DHCP is open source software that implements the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for connection to an IP network. It is production-grade software that offers a complete solution for implementing DHCP servers, relay agents, and clients for small local networks to large enterprises. ISC DHCP solution supports both IPv4 and IPv6, and is suitable for use in high-volume and high-reliability applications. DHCP is available for free download under the terms of the ISC License, a BSD style license.

What is DHCP?

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a network protocol used to assign IP addresses and provide configuration information to devices such as servers, desktops, or mobile devices, so they can communicate on a network using the Internet Protocol (IP).

ISC DHCP is a collection of software that implements all aspects of the DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) suite. It includes:

• A DHCP server, which receives clients’ requests and replies to them.
• A DHCP client, which can be bundled with the operating system of a client computer or other IP capable device and which sends configuration requests to the server. Most devices and operating systems already have DHCP clients included.
• A DHCP relay agent, which passes DHCP requests from one LAN to another so that there need not be a DHCP server on every LAN.

The DHCP server, client and relay agent are provided both as reference implementations of the protocol and as working, fully-featured sample implementations. Both the client and the server provide functionality that, while not strictly required by the protocol, is very useful in practice. The DHCP server also makes allowances for non-compliant clients that need to be supported.

The ISC DHCP server will answer requests from any client that complies with the protocol standards, and the ISC DHCP client can interact with any server that complies with those standards. The components of ISC DHCP need not all be used together. That is, after all, the purpose behind the published standards.