DHCP INFORM

[Vasu, Vallabhaneni]

Carlos Cantu/Boulder/IBM wrote:

> The best argument I've found for the use of the Inform request is when a
> machine has been manually configured, it can still pick up other usefull
> information that may be configured in DHCP.  Should a DHCP client be doing
> Informs if it picked up its IP address through DHCP?  It seems to me it
> would already have all the info it needs and thus the Informs would be
> wasteful.

The INFORM will be useful in updating the options information at the client
end when the administrator has changed the configuration of the dhcp server
and does refresh.

> Should client logic look something  like this:
>
> if (ReceivedIPAddressLastFrom != DHCP)
>      Do DHCPInform calls here...
>
> ...otherwise don't do DHCP Informs.
>
> Or is there some good reason for doing Informs even if you got a DHCP
> address?

DHCP inform are also used in the Intel Specification for PXE (Preboot
Execution Environment). You can find the spec on Intels Web site.

Hope this answers your question
Vasu