How does DHCP and DNS work?

[Roddd]

I'm curious how these two things work and how they are related to each other. I tried looking at a DHCP FAQ but I was a bit confused about it. Hopefully, I will learn more about these when I take a computer network class next quarter but I'd like to get a head start.

I guess IP protocols are also related, but what's this about renewing and releasing IPs for DHCP? It seems like that can be a bad thing for people with a broadband connection and needs to be constantly connected. I've toyed around with ipconfig to see that releasing IPs kills the connection and renewing it "turns it back on" so to speak.

If anyone can point me in the right direction or explain some of this for a relative network newbie, I'd appreciate it.

 

[spidey07]

This should get you started.

rfc2131

rfc830

 

[Nothinman]

If you have cash to spend the books "DNS and BIND" and "The DHCP Handbook" might be of interest to you.

I've toyed around with ipconfig to see that releasing IPs kills the connection and renewing it "turns it back on" so to speak.

When you release your IP via DHCP you tell the DHCP server that IP is available in the allocation pool again, so you can't use it anymore. When you renew an IP you get a lease from the DHCP server, that IP is temporarily yours so you can get on the network. Periodically your DHCP client will request a renewal of the IP address in the background so you can continue using it.

 

[Rellik]

a good site to learn about ip and subnetting(which is basic knowledge before getting to the DHCP and DNS part) is

Learn to Subnet

Be careful, vid´s only work correct in Netscape and stuff is pretty repetitive

 

[dszd0g]

I second Nothinman's recommendation of DNS and BIND. I think if you make it through that book and understand DNS, DHCP will be easy. DNS is not very hard and that book is pretty easy reading if you put the effort into it.

I would actually recommend a good book on TCP/IP instead of a focus on DHCP. I think if you understand the underlying protocols DHCP works with, you will have a better understanding of it. If you understand TCP/IP reading the FAQ is probably sufficient to explain the rest. If you did not understand the FAQ your background in TCP/IP is probably insufficient. The book I read on TCP/IP was TCP/IP Network Administration. I have the first edition, but I actually think the second edition probablly covers DHCP. DHCP wasn't standardized until 1997 and the first book was published in 1992.

I bet if you read those two books you will have a much better understanding of network administration. I would actually read the TCP/IP book first if you are planning on reading the DNS and BIND book.