.\" $OpenBSD: src/sbin/dhclient/dhclient.8,v 1.8 2011/03/02 07:44:42 jmc Exp $ .\" .\" Copyright (c) 1997 The Internet Software Consortium. .\" All rights reserved. .\" .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions .\" are met: .\" .\" 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. .\" 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright .\" notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the .\" documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. .\" 3. Neither the name of The Internet Software Consortium nor the names .\" of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived .\" from this software without specific prior written permission. .\" .\" THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE INTERNET SOFTWARE CONSORTIUM AND .\" CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, .\" INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF .\" MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE .\" DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE INTERNET SOFTWARE CONSORTIUM OR .\" CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, .\" SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT .\" LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF .\" USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND .\" ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, .\" OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT .\" OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF .\" SUCH DAMAGE. .\" .\" This software has been written for the Internet Software Consortium .\" by Ted Lemon in cooperation with Vixie .\" Enterprises. To learn more about the Internet Software Consortium, .\" see ``http://www.isc.org/isc''. To learn more about Vixie .\" Enterprises, see ``http://www.vix.com''. .Dd July 23, 2013 .Dt DHCLIENT 8 .Os .Sh NAME .Nm dhclient .Nd Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) client .Sh SYNOPSIS .Nm .Op Fl dqu .Op Fl c Ar file .Op Fl l Ar file .Ar interface .Sh DESCRIPTION The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) allows hosts on a TCP/IP network to configure one or more network interfaces based on information collected from a DHCP server. DHCP is often used, for example, by cable modem and DSL network providers to automate network configuration for their customers. .Pp Information typically provided via DHCP includes address and subnet mask for the interface, default route, and domain name server. .Pp To have .Dx configure an interface using DHCP (or its predecessor, BOOTP) the .Nm utility is used. .Nm is run on the command line with the name of the .Ar interface to be configured. .Pp The options are as follows: .Bl -tag -width "-p port" .It Fl c Ar file Specify an alternate location to .Pa /etc/dhclient.conf for the configuration file. .It Fl d Forces .Nm to always run as a foreground process. By default, .Nm runs in the foreground until it has configured the interface, and then will revert to running in the background. .It Fl l Ar file Specify an alternate location to .Pa /var/db/dhclient.leases. Ns Aq Ar IFNAME for the leases file. .It Fl q Forces .Nm to be less verbose on startup. .It Fl u Forces .Nm to reject leases with unknown options in them. The default behaviour is to accept such lease offers. .El .Pp The DHCP protocol allows a host to contact a central server which maintains a list of IP addresses which may be assigned on one or more subnets. A DHCP client may request an address from this pool, and then use it on a temporary basis for communication on the network. The DHCP protocol also provides a mechanism whereby a client can learn important details about the network to which it is attached, such as the location of a default router, the location of a name server, and so on. .Pp On startup, .Nm reads .Pa /etc/dhclient.conf for configuration instructions. It then attempts to configure the network interface .Ar interface with DHCP. .Pp In order to keep track of leases across system reboots and server restarts, .Nm keeps a list of leases it has been assigned in the .Pa /var/db/dhclient.leases. Ns Aq Ar IFNAME file. .Ar IFNAME represents the network interface of the DHCP client .Pq e.g. em0 , one for each interface. On startup, after reading the .Xr dhclient.conf 5 file, .Nm reads the leases file to refresh its memory about what leases it has been assigned. .Pp Old leases are kept around in case the DHCP server is unavailable when .Nm is first invoked (generally during the initial system boot process). In that event, old leases from the .Pa dhclient.leases. Ns Aq Ar IFNAME file which have not yet expired are tested, and if they are determined to be valid, they are used until either they expire or the DHCP server becomes available. .Pp A mobile host which may sometimes need to access a network on which no DHCP server exists may be preloaded with a lease for a fixed address on that network. When all attempts to contact a DHCP server have failed, .Nm will try to validate the static lease, and if it succeeds, it will use that lease until it is restarted. .Pp A mobile host may also travel to some networks on which DHCP is not available but BOOTP is. In that case, it may be advantageous to arrange with the network administrator for an entry on the BOOTP database, so that the host can boot quickly on that network rather than cycling through the list of old leases. .Pp .Nm requires at least one .Pa /dev/bpf* file for each broadcast network interface. See .Xr bpf 4 for more information. .Sh FILES .Bl -tag -width "/var/db/dhclient.leases.XXX" -compact .It Pa /etc/dhclient.conf DHCP client configuration file .It Pa /var/db/dhclient.leases. Ns Aq Ar IFNAME database of acquired leases .El .Sh SEE ALSO .Xr bpf 4 , .Xr dhclient.conf 5 , .Xr dhclient.leases 5 , .Xr dhclient-script 8 , .Xr dhcp 8 , .Xr dhcpd 8 Pq Pa net/isc-dhcp42-server , .Xr dhcrelay 8 Pq Pa net/isc-dhcp42-relay .Sh STANDARDS .Rs .%A R. Droms .%D October 1993 .%R RFC 1534 .%T Interoperation Between DHCP and BOOTP .Re .Pp .Rs .%A R. Droms .%D March 1997 .%R RFC 2131 .%T Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol .Re .Pp .Rs .%A S. Alexander .%A R. Droms .%D March 1997 .%R RFC 2132 .%T DHCP Options and BOOTP Vendor Extensions .Re .Pp .Rs .%A T. Lemon .%A S. Cheshire .%D November 2002 .%R RFC 3396 .%T Encoding Long Options in the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCPv4) .Re .Pp .Rs .%A T. Lemon .%A S. Cheshire .%A B. Volz .%D December 2002 .%R RFC 3442 .%T The Classless Static Route Option for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) version 4 .Re .Sh HISTORY .Nm was imported into .Dx 2.1 . .Sh AUTHORS .An -nosplit .Nm was written by .An Ted Lemon Aq Mt mellon@fugue.com and .An Elliot Poger Aq Mt elliot@poger.com . .Pp The current implementation was reworked by .An Henning Brauer Aq Mt henning@openbsd.org .