dhcp relay - stateless

[Simon Hobson]

foomail123 wrote:

>Since dhcp relay is stateless, if there are multiple
>interfaces, how does relay know which interface to
>foward DHCP offer received from server ?
>
>How does relay work in vlan case (multiple interfaces
>in a vlan) ?
>
>Also, being stateless if same host is connected to
>multiple interfaces and/or vlans, how does relay
>process DHCP offer packet received from server ?

The process is fairly simple.

On receiving a broadcast packet from a client, it puts a Gateway 
Interface Address (GIAddr) into the header of the packet before 
unicasting it to the server(s).

Replies from the server are unicast to the GIAddr, so the relay agent 
can tell from that which interface to broadcast it back out on.

GIAddr is the key - it must be an address that both the server and 
agent can identify with a subnet or shared network (in the case of 
the server) and an interface (for the relay agent). It is typically 
the IP address of the interface through which the broadcast request 
was received - it can be a different address, but if it isn't in the 
same subnet then it must still be unique to the interface (ie you 
can't use the same loopback address for three different networks) and 
you would need a shared network statement on the server to associate 
the network and the GIAddr.


VLANs are no different. A client will normally only be in one VLAN 
(typically determined by the setting for the physical port of the 
switch it connects to) - in network terms it's no different to having 
a separate switch for the VLAN. The relay agent must use a GIAddr 
appropriate to the VLAN it detects the client as being connected to.


If a host is connected to multiple networks or VLANs, then the host 
is responsible for making dhcp requests on each interface (or virtual 
interface) it wishes to configure - but each request is uniquely 
linked to a network as above.


If you have a shared network (ie multiple IP subnets on one physical 
network), then the relay agent cannot differentiate clients  - that 
is the servers job IF the administrator has configured it accordingly 
(eg by using classes to assign clients to subnets).


Simon