DHCP Relay Agent - Concept

DHCPDiscover packets, like all broadcasts, cannot pass across routers. In fact that was a
lie, if you have a modern Router which is RFC 1542 compliant, then you can forward the
DHCPDiscover packets to a DHCP server in a different subnet. In this instance, the
Router acts as a Relay Agent.

Relay Agent - Installation

It is rare for Microsoft to remove functionality, but
while NT 4.0 Workstations could act as DHCP
Relay agents, XP and W2K Pro cannot. So you
need to install the relay agent on a Windows
Server 2003.

What is not obvious is where you find the relay agent, the answer is in Routing and
Remote Access. When you think about it, the relay agent is a type of router, hence the
RRAS location to install and configure the DHCP Relay agent makes sense.

As I say once you find and install the Relay Agent, configuring is easy, all you need to do
is tell the router or DHCP relay agent the IP address of the real DHCP servers. Just right
click the DHCP Relay Agent, and then select properties from the shortcut menu.

Trap: you forget to add an interface. See that 'ISP' interface in the screen shot is Enabled.
Relay Agent - Installation
It is rare for Microsoft to remove functionality, but
while NT 4.0 Workstations could act as DHCP
Relay agents, XP and W2K Pro cannot. So you
need to install the relay agent on a Windows
Server 2003.

What is not obvious is where you find the relay agent, the answer is in Routing and
Remote Access. When you think about it, the relay agent is a type of router, hence the
RRAS location to install and configure the DHCP Relay agent makes sense.

As I say once you find and install the Relay Agent, configuring is easy, all you need to do
is tell the router or DHCP relay agent the IP address of the real DHCP servers. Just right
click the DHCP Relay Agent, and then select properties from the shortcut menu.

Trap: you forget to add an interface. See that 'ISP' interface in the screen shot is Enabled.

Relay Agent - In action

Let us turn this tutorial to see how the Relay Agent works. What happens is the Relay
agent intercepts DHCPDiscover packets from clients and then unicasts to the DHCP on
their behalf. The secret of successful relaying is to create the appropriate scope on the
DHCP server. The first time it worked I thought that it was a miracle that the client got
the correct IP address. On reflection, I realized that the Relay Agent adds the Source IP
address when it contacts DHCP. So now I understand how the server knows, from its list
of scopes, which subnet to offer an IP address.

Hop Count
How many routers lie between your client and its DHCP server? Each router would
represent 1 hop, so calculate the maximum hop count that you need and configure the
Relay Agent accordingly. From the Routing and Remote Access interface, navigate to
the IP Routing, DHCP Relay Agent, right click the Interface, not the server, and check
the Hop Count threshold.

Boot Threshold
The boot threshold setting is for the cautious (or paranoid). Such people would have a
DHCP server AND a Relay Agent on the SAME subnet. In these circumstances, you
should consider how long the Relay Agent should wait for the main DHCP server to
respond. To do this adjust the Boot threshold.

Conflict Detection
Where you have relay agents, especially if you
configure more than one, there is a possibility of
duplicate IP addresses. The conflict detection
feature means that the DHCP server checks by
pinging the proposed address lease before actually
issuing it. Naturally, if the server receives a reply
that IP address is not offered.

Conflict Detection is a property of the DHCP

server as a whole and not of individual scopes. To
set the threshold, right click the server icon,
properties, then Advanced (Tab).

APIPA
If all else fails, then clients give themselves an Automatic IP address in the range
169.254.x.y where x and y are two random numbers between 1 and 254.

Whilst APIPA is a sign of failure, the fact that the client has a valid IP address means that
it can keep on polling to see if a DHCP server has come back online. In NT 4.0 days, a
client would end up with a 0.0.0.0 address if there were no DHCP server, and then you
needed to reboot to obtain a valid IP address.