Chuck McManis <cmcmanis@mcmanis.com> writes:

> DHCP was not invented by MICROS~1 or even sanctioned by them (they
> prefer something called "WINS") however DHCP is a _much_ better
> protocol than BOOTP which it superceded.

Let's give credit where credit is due.  Microsoft was heavily involved
in the development of DHCP, and they were the first company to market
a commercial implementation.  WINS is their brain-dead alternative to
DNS.  Of course, Microsoft did apply their usual tactics to DHCP,
making sure it was permissible by the specification for a DHCP client
to refuse to be serviced by a BOOTP server, which meant that if you
wanted to integrate Windows clients into an existing BOOTP network,
you could do that, but only by transferring control over the network
to an NT server.  Of course, it didn't take long for other DHCP
servers to become available, so it's no longer a problem.  We use DHCP
here, using NetBSD and the stock DHCP server it comes with.

They've done this sort of thing over and over, for instance with
Kerberos 5, which is the authentication mechanism they use for Windows
2000.  They weren't involved in designing that, but they managed to
find a loophole in the specification, where they could bastardize the
protocol in such a way that you can integrate Windows 2000 into an
existing Kerberos 5 environment, but only moving your KDC to NT.  As
if anyone in their right minds would do that!

They're either malignant or monumentally stupid.  Take your pick.

> DHCP allows you to specify a given address is only to be given to a
> particular MAC address and it allows you to pass other bits in there
> as well such as filesystems to mount, DNS servers to use, etc etc.

Absolutely.  DHCP is completely flexible, giving you the exact level
of control you want, without the need for configuration data on the
client.  It's a great solution!

Oh, and a bit of useful DHCP information: if you move a Windows client
from static IP configuration to DHCP, by checking the DHCP box, the
static information goes light gray, which one would assume to mean
it's now irrelevant.  It isn't!  Any static configuration data you
leave sitting there will _override_ what the client gets from the DHCP
server!  Someone at Microsoft really screwed up big-time there!

-tih
-- 
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