Friday, 10 August 2012

Is a DHCP server "supposed to" be able to support a BOOTP client? | DHCP

The RFC on such interoperability (1534) is clear: "In summary, a DHCP server:... MAY support BOOTP clients," (section 2).
The word "MAY" indicates such support, however useful, is left as an option.
A source of confusion on this point is the following statement in section 1.5 of RFC 1541: "DHCP must provide service to existing BOOTP clients." However, this statement is one in a list of "general design goals for DHCP", i.e. what the designers of the DHCP protocol set as their own goals. It is not in a list of requirements for DHCP servers.
 

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