IPv4 Addressing Review - CCNP ENSARI
Configuring DHCPv4 + Addressing
IPv4 Addressing + Host Forwarding Determination
IPv4 addressing is made up of three parts: a network /subnet portion and a host portion, which it is highly important that all host in the same subnet share the same network/subnet portion. If these portions are not the same host devices may address the Layer 2 frame incorrectly forwarding packets in the wrong direction.
When hosts need to communicate with other hosts a DNS lookup is performed for the destination host IP address. The source host must determine if the destination host is located in the same subnet in order to correctly forward the frame either to the MAC address of the destination host or default gateway.
If the subnet ID bits are identical the host creates a frame with is own source MAC address and sends the frame directly to the destination MAC address, otherwise it sends the frame to the destination MAC address of the default gateway.
IP address verification on PC (Windows) issue command: ipconfig
IP address verification on Cisco IOS issue command: show ip interface interface_type interface_number
DHCPv4 + Relay Agent Process
DHCP services allow for DHCP clients to acquire 4 important network components such as IP address, netmask, default gateway IP address and DNS IP address with exchange message process Discover, Offer, Request, Acknowledgement.
DHCP clients communicate by sending a broadcast message of DHCPDISCOVER to destination IP 255.255.255.255 along with destination MAC FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF in efforts to locate a DHCP server. The client source IP address is 0.0.0.0 and its own MAC address.
DHCPDISCOVER messages are sent as a broadcast although broadcasts cannot cross router boundaries. So in this case, if a host resides on a different network than the DHCP server, the default gateway of the host will need to be configured as a DHCP relay agent. This enables broadcast packets to be forwarded as unicast packets to the DHCP server.
DHCP Relay Agent Commands in Brief
Global configuration Mode, issue command: service dhcp
-- Enables DHCP service on router for DHCP services to function
Interface Configuration Mode, issue command: ip helper-address ip_address
-- Specifies the IP address of the DHCP server, command must be configured on interface receiving the DHCPDICOVER messages from the hosts.
DHCPv4 Messages Types
- DHCPDISCOVER
- Host message to locate DHCP server using, UDP port 67
- DHCPOFFER
- DHCP server message in response to DHCPDISCOVER, using UDP port 68
- DHCPREQUEST
- Host message from host to DHCP server requesting IP addressing information received from DHCPOFFER reply
- DHCPACK
- DHCP server message to a client including IP configuration parameters
- DHCPDECLINE
- Message from client informing DHCP server that an IP address is already in use
- DHCPNAK
- DHCP server message declining client IP configuration information
- DHCPRELEASE
- Client message informing DHCP server to release its DHCP lease
- DHCPINFORM
- Message from client requesting IP configuration information for a remote client attaching to an access server.
Potential DHCP Troubleshooting Issues
- A router not forwarding broadcasts
- verify DHCP relay agent is configured if DHCP client and server are on different subnets
- DHCP pool out of IP addresses
- Misconfiguration
- Duplicate IP addresses
- Redundant services not communicating
- If DHCP interserver communication fails, DHCP servers hand out overlapping IP addresses
- The pull nature of DHCP
- DHCP servers have no ability to initiate modifications in client IP address after the client acquires an IP address, clients only pull information from DHCP server.
- Interface not configured with IP in DHCP pool
DHCP Troubleshooting Commands in Brief
show ip dhcp conflict
-- output indicates duplicate IP addresses on a network
show ip dhcp binding
-- output indicates that IP addresses assigned to DHCP client
clear ip dhcp binding *
-- command to release DHCP leases
debug ip dhcp server events
-- output shows updates to the DHCP database
debug ip dhcp server packet
-- output shows DHCP messaging information
Odom, Wendell (2017.) (Cisco CCNA Routing and Switching, Official Cert Guide.)









