Novell LINUX ENTERPRISE SERVER 10 - INSTALLATION AND ADMINISTRATION 04-08-2006 Installation Manual page 655

DHCP
The purpose of the dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) is to assign network
settings centrally from a server rather than configuring them locally on each and every
workstation. A host configured to use DHCP does not have control over its own static
address. It is enabled to configure itself completely and automatically according to di-
rections from the server. If you use the NetworkManager on the client side, you do not
need to configure the client at all. This is useful if you have changing environments
and only one interface active at a time. Never use NetworkManager on a machine that
runs a DHCP server.
TIP: IBM System z: DHCP Support
On IBM System z platforms, DHCP only works on interfaces using the OSA and
OSA Express network cards. These cards are the only ones with a MAC, which
is required for DHCP's autoconfiguration features.
One way to configure a DHCP server is to identify each client using the hardware address
of its network card (which is fixed in most cases), then supply that client with identical
settings each time it connects to the server. DHCP can also be configured to assign
addresses to each interested client dynamically from an address pool set up for that
purpose. In the latter case, the DHCP server tries to assign the same address to the client
each time it receives a request, even over longer periods. This works only if the network
does not have more clients than addresses.
DHCP makes life easier for system administrators. Any changes, even bigger ones, re-
lated to addresses and the network configuration in general can be implemented centrally
by editing the server's configuration file. This is much more convenient than reconfig-
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