At 08:58 PM 8/15/05, Scott Leighton wrote:
On Monday 15 August 2005 6:37 am, David SMITH wrote:
DHCP is a mechanism by which machines can connect to a network without you having to allocate them an IP address manually. One machine (the DHCP server) assumes the job of handing out IP addresses to anyone who asks for them, making sure that no two machines have the same address.
David,
Great job on the explanation! I'm sure many readers besides the OP will find it very usefull and maybe even enlightening!
David's explanation is incomplete (but was sufficient for OP's problem). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol David's explanation gives an overview of "IP Address Allocation". DHCP can send much more than simply ip address to client - see "Client Configuration Parameters".