Introducing DHCPD - The Linux DHCP Server

The ISC DHCP server DHCPD is open source software that implements the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocols so that client computers and devices can be automatically configured when connecting to a local area network.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) automates network-parameter assignment to network devices by means of a DHCP server, usually a computer or device running software such as DHCPD. Regardless of the size of the network DHCP is very useful in simplifying adding additional devices to the network. When a client computer or device that is configured to accept its network parameters via DHCP connects to a network it sends a broadcast query requesting the necessary information from a DHCP server. The DHCP server manages a pool of IP addresses and on receiving a valid request will assign the client an IP address, a lease (the length of time the IP address and other information is valid), and other IP configuration parameters such as subnet mask, default gateway and name server addresses.

The ISC Linux DHCP server was originally written by Ted Lemon, who maintained it until the final release of version 3.0 in January 2003. Since 2004, primary maintenance and development of ISC DHCPD has been the work of David Hankins at ISC.

DHCPD runs as a daemon or background process on your Linux server. Configuration of your DHCP server is achieved through a text file called dhcpd.conf that is generally but not always located somewhere in the /etc directory or one of its subdirectorys. There are several options that your Linux DHCP server may pass to its clients though IP address, subnet mask, default gateway and DNS server addresses are by far the most common. Configuration of these parameters is achieved by editing dhcpd.conf.