Playing Middle Man To Ip Address Requests

To differentiate one from the other in the world of the internet, the veritable mark of distinction is the IP address. Akin to methods to distinguish one person from the other, this marker serves to identify each device connected to the web. Whether it is a large server, small client, printer, mobile device or whatever other assortment of gadgets, as long as it wants to communicate with the rest in an online manner over the internet, it is expected to exhibit a unique address. In the exercise of assigning these indicators, a device is usually allocated a dynamic IP address so that it does not need to bother itself with the complexities of subnet masks, default gateways, domain name servers and other bits of essential information. When the common user plugs in his computer to the office network or dials up his internet service provider, he expects to be put through without fuss or muss.

To accommodate the growing crowd of internet users, addresses are becoming scarce regardless of various methods to wean the herd. As a clever measure to overcome this challenge, subnets are created as though adjoining networks to the main one. Although DHCP servers are solely responsible for allocating these types of unique addresses to all devices connected onto the network, machines on the subnet have no means of communicating directly with the server farm. This is where DHCP relay comes into play. By installing an agent in a subnet, it performs the role as a middle man to pass on information between a client on the subnet and the DHCP server on the main network.

A client newly joined on the subnet needs to request for a dynamic IP address from the server handing out these unique identifiers. Since it possesses no form of identification, it broadcasts its request on the subnet which is then picked up by the agent in charge. This request is then tagged with the agent's IP address before being passed on to one or more DHCP servers to be fulfilled. The server then selects an unused address suited for the subnet based on the agent's origins. The server then sends out the fulfilled request received by the DHCP relay agent which in turn forwards the information to the requesting client. Although it may sound like quite a trip, the whole matter is usually completed within a blink of an eye barring the occasional hiccup on the network.

By: Chris Cornel

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