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 Manual assignment RARP BOOTP

Before DHCP

DHCP Features

Protocol for providing configuration parameters to hosts over network Dynamic allocation of IP addresses Minimal human intervention

Sample Network
DHCP Clients DHCP Server

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 PDUs in both directions

Broadcast: link and IP addresses are broadcast Unicast: link and IP addresses are unicast

Initial Message Flow

Server A
DHCPDISCOVER

Client
DHCPDISCOVER

Server B
Client attempts to discover available DHCP servers

DHCPOFFER

DHCPOFFER

Servers reply with offers

Client collects offers and decides which offer to accept Client broadcasts request for one of the received offers

DHCPREQUEST

DHCPREQUEST

Configuration complete

DHCPACK

Server acknowledges clients use of IP address

Graceful shutdown

DHCPRELEASE

Client explicitly releases use of IP address

DHCP Message Types

DHCP Message
DHCPDISCOVER
DHCPOFFER DHCPREQUEST DHCPDECLINE DHCPACK

Use
Client broadcast to locate available servers
Server to client response offering configuration parameters Client broadcast requesting offered parameters Client to server notification that IP address is in use Server to client response confirming a request

DHCPNAK
DHCPRELEASE DHCPINFORM

Server to client response denying a request

Client to server request to relinquish IP address 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
T1 elapses Client unicasts request to continue using IP address Server acknowledges request and updates lease

Server B

DHCPREQUEST
Configuration complete

DHCPACK

T1 elapses Client unicasts request to continue using IP address

DHCPREQUEST
T2 elapses

DHCPREQUEST

DHCPREQUEST
Configuration complete

Client broadcasts request to continue using IP address Server acknowledges request and updates lease

DHCPACK

Client FSM (Simplified)

INIT
DHCPNAK/ Stop using IP address

DHCPNAK, Lease expires/ Stop using IP address

DHCPNAK/ Discard offer

RENEWING

T2/Broadcast DHCPREQUEST

REBINDING

DHCPACK/Set T1,T2

DHCPACK (in use)/ DHCPDECLINE DHCPACK/Set T1,T2 T1/ Unicast DHCPREQUEST

-/DHCPDISCOVER

REQUESTING
DHCPACK/Set T1,T2

Select offer/DHCPREQUEST

SELECTING

DHCPOFFER/ Process offer

BOUND

Retransmissions

Client responsible for all retransmissions Retransmission strategy

Exponential backoff Randomized Base delay doubled for each retransmission Random number picked from [-1,+1] Maximum base delay: 64 seconds

Recommendations

Server Storage

Permanent storage

Pool of available IP addresses Local configuration parameters Mapping between clients and leases When DHCPOFFER sent When DHCPACK sent

Flexibility concerning storage update

Server Logic (Simplified)

Event
DHCPDISCOVER

Action Taken
If current lease for client exists, send DHCPOFFER Else, if IP address available, send DHCPOFFER Else, do nothing
If IP address available, send DHCPACK Else, send DHCPNAK Mark IP address unavailable, notify network administrator Mark IP address available, delete lease Send DHCPACK with configuration parameters Mark IP address available, delete lease

DHCPREQUEST DHCPDECLINE DHCPRELEASE DHCPINFORM Lease expiration

DHCP PDU Format

32 Bits Operation Code Hardware Type Hardware Length Hop Count Transaction ID Seconds Elapsed B 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) Must Be Zero (MBZ)

DHCP Options
Magic Cookie:

99

130
4 bytes

83

99

Option format:

Code
1 byte

Length
1 byte

Data
Length bytes

Subnet Mask:

1
One-byte options:

255

255

255

0 255

Padding 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) Broadcast from server Broadcast to client Unicast from server Unicast to client

Server to client relay

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
Length
1 byte

81
1 byte

Flags

rcode1

rcode2

Name

Length bytes

Reliability

Two synchronized DHCP servers on the same network: Primary, Secondary Permanent storage constantly communicated Failure: Secondary server takes over
Primary Server Secondary 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