In October 1993, the first automated way to allocate IP addresses was introduced: the Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP). Even though it was a major improvement over the traditional method, BOOTP had some limitations, as it was not able to configure every parameter so the network administrator still had to manually configure some settings on devices.
Because of these disadvantages and lack of functionality, BOOTP was eventually upgraded to the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), which was initially released in 1997 and underwent periodic upgrades over the years.
DHCP address allocation is a four-step process:
- DHCP Discover
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