About DHCP
Learn more about Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
(DHCP) for your firewall.
| Where Can I Use This? | What Do I Need? |
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Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
is a standardized protocol defined in
RFC 2131. DHCP is used
to provide TCP/IP and link layer configuration parameters and to
provide network addresses to dynamically configured hosts on a TCP/IP
network.
DHCP uses a client-server model of communication. This model
consists of three roles that the firewall can fulfill.
DHCP server—The firewall acting as a DHCP server can service a client. By using any of the
three DHCP addressing mechanisms, the network administrator saves configuration
time and has the benefit of reusing a limited number of IP addresses when a
client no longer needs network connectivity. The server can deliver IP
addressing and many DHCP options to clients.
DHCP client—The firewall acting as a DHCP client (host) can request an IP address and
other configuration settings from a DHCP server. Users on a client firewall save
configuration time and effort, and need not know the network addressing plan or
other resources and options they’re inheriting from the DHCP server.
DHCP relay agent—A firewall acting as a DHCP relay agent
transmits DHCP messages in-between DHCP servers and clients.
An interface on a Palo Alto Networks® Next-Gen firewall can perform the role of a DHCP server,
client, or relay agent. The interface of a DHCP server or relay agent must be a Layer 3
Ethernet, Aggregate Ethernet, or Layer 3 VLAN interface. You can configure the firewall
interfaces with the appropriate settings for any combination of roles.
The firewall supports DHCPv4 Server and DHCPv6 Relay. The Palo Alto Networks implementations of
DHCP server and DHCP client support IPv4 addresses only. DHCP relay implementation
supports IPv4 only. DHCP client isn’t supported in an active/active high availability
configuration.
