Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DHCP, DNS, SNMP

Debashis Saha
MIS Group, IIM Calcutta
[email protected]
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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

First Question

• How does your computer know which IP

to use?

• How does your computer know that

www.iimcal.ac.in is at IP 202.54.116.3?

• How can you track your network’s health?

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

The Internet and Addressing

• All machines on the Internet are accessed via

their IP address
– Dotted quad: xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
• Problem: IP addresses are hard to remember and
hard to statically assign on large networks
• Solution: Need to come up with a way to
automatically assign IP addresses and a text based
representation of machine addresses instead of
just 4 numbers

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Addressing Solutions

• Two protocols have been developed to solve

these problems

– DHCP – automatic network configuration (including IP

address)

– DNS – translates textual based names into IP addresses

and vice versa

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DHCP – Dynamic Host Configuration

Protocol

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DHCP

• Allows client machines to receive an IP

address, DNS information, etc
automatically
• Before DHCP came into use, users had to
type in all this information by hand, which
is bad:
– Easy to mistype something when entering by hand
– Manually changing network configuration every time you
move your laptop is a pain
– Bootp resolved some of these issues
• … and DHCP still uses the same port as bootp

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Purpose of DHCP
From RFC-2131 (the Internet standard):
• The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
(DHCP) provides a framework for passing
configuration information to hosts on a TCP/IP
network.
• DHCP consists of two components:
– a protocol for delivering host-specific configuration
parameters from a DHCP server to a host and
– a mechanism for allocation of network addresses to hosts.

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DHCP functional goals

• A host without a valid IP address locates
and communicates with a DHCP server
• A DHCP server passes configuration
parameters, including an IP address, to the
host
• The DHCP server may dynamically allocate
addresses to hosts and reuse addresses
• Hosts can detect when they require a new IP
address
• Unavailability of DHCP server has minimal
effect on operation of hosts
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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DHCP: Basics

• A client leases an IP address from a DHCP

server for a given amount of time
• When lease expires, the client must ask
DHCP server for a new address (clients
attempt to renew lease after 50% of the
lease time has expired)
• Typical leases may last for from 30
seconds to 24 hours, or even longer.

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

What does DHCP do?

• Provides protocol stack, application and
other configuration parameters to hosts
• Eliminates need for individual, manual
configuration for hosts
• Includes administrative controls for
network administrators
• Backward compatible packet format for
BOOTP interoperation (RFC 1542)
• Can coexist with hosts that have pre-
assigned IP addresses and hosts that do
not participate in DHCP
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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Design Goals
• Eliminate manual configuration of hosts
• Prevent use of any IP address by more than
one host
• Should not require a server on every subnet
• Allow for multiple DHCP servers
• Provide a mechanism, not a policy
• Provide the same configuration - including
IP address - to a host whenever possible

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

What can you do with DHCP

• Plug-and-play
• Move desktop PCs between offices
• Renumber
• Other restructuring - change subnet masks
• Mobile IP - laptops
• Moving equipment - cartable

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

What DHCP doesn’t do

• Support multiple addresses per interface
• Inform running host that parameters have changed
• Propagate new addresses to DNS
• Support inter-server communication
• Provide authenticated message delivery
• Configure routers and other network equipment
• Design network addressing plan
• Determine other configuration parameters
• Locate other servers

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DHCP: Messages Overview

• Several messages are sent back and forth

between a client and the DHCP server
before it can successfully obtain an IP
address

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DHCP: DISCOVER

• Hardcoding the addresses of DHCP servers

kind of defeats the purpose of automatic
configuration
• Solution: A client using DHCP will broadcast
a DISCOVER message to all computers on
its subnet (addr 255.255.255.255) to
figure out the IP address of any DHCP
servers
• Most routers are configured to pass this
request within the campus or enterprise

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DHCP: OFFER

• (Optionally) sent from server in response

to a DISCOVER
• Contains an IP address, other configuration
information as well (subnet mask, DNS
servers, default gateway, search domains,
etc)
• Note that all DHCP servers that receive a
DISCOVER request may send an OFFER;
– since a client typically does not need more than one IP
address, more messages needed to zero on one IP

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DHCP: REQUEST
• Sent by client to request a certain IP address
– Usually the one sent by an OFFER, but also used to renew
leases. Also can be sent to try to get same address after a
reboot
• This message is broadcast
• Most OSs by default will send a REQUEST for the
first OFFER they receive – this means that if
there is a rogue DHCP server on your subnet, most
clients will ignore the OFFERs from the campus
DHCP servers (since the OFFER from the rogue
server gets to the user’s PC first)!

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DHCP: ACK/NACK

• Sent by server in response to a REQUEST

• ACK: Request accepted, client can start
using the IP it REQUESTed
• NACK: Something is wrong with the client’s
REQUEST (for example they requested an
IP address they’re not supposed to have)

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DHCP: RELEASE

• Sent by client to end a lease

• Not strictly required, but is the “polite” thing to

do if done with the IP (could just let the lease
expire)

• Some clients may not send RELEASEs in an

attempt to keep the same IP address for as long
as possible

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DHCP: Big Picture

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Summary
• DHCP works today as a tool for automatic
configuration of TCP/IP hosts
• It is an open Internet standard and
interoperable client implementations are
widely available
• Provides automation for routine
configuration tasks, once network architect
has configured network and addressing plan
• Ongoing work will extend DHCP with
authentication, DHCP-DNS interaction and
inter-server communication
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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DHCP: Conclusion

• Efficient way of assigning computers IP

addresses and delivering configuration
information to those computers

• Does not solve other problem of addressing

– that IP addresses are hard to remember

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

IETF standards

• Formal process for development, review and

acceptance of TCP/IP protocol suite
standards
• Initial specifications published as Internet
Drafts (I-Ds)
• Accepted specifications published as
Request for Comments (RFCs)

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Protocol status

• DHCP has been accepted as a Draft

Standard; the specifications are
published in:
– RFC 2131: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
– RFC 2132: DHCP Options and BOOTP Vendor
Extensions
• Several additional options are in
development

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Implementation status

• DHCP is an open standard, with freely

available specifications
• Can be (and has been) implemented entirely
from the specification
• Commercial implementations are widely
available
• Non-commerical implementations are also
available

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DHCP Resources
• Compilation of DHCP-related WWW links and
other information:
http://www.dhcp.org
• DHCP FAQ (maintained by John Wobus)
• [email protected] mailing list (admin
requests to [email protected])
• IETF information can be retrieved from:
http://www.ietf.cnri.reston.va.us
• I-Ds and RFCs can also be retrieved from:
http://www.rfc-editor.org

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DNS – Domain Name System

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Second Question

• How does your computer know which IP to

use?

• How does your computer know that

www.iimcal.ac.in is at IP 202.54.116.3?

• How can you track your network’s health?

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Domain Name System (DNS)

• The first IP networks distributed host

files on a regular basis
– This became a burden and an automated distributed
solution was needed
• IP Addresses are great for computers
– IP address includes information used for routing.
• IP addresses are tough for humans to
remember.
• IP addresses are impossible to guess.
– ever guessed at the name of a WWW site?

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Hostnames

• DNS is born
• Domain names comprise a hierarchy so that
names are unique, yet easy to remember.
• The domain name system is usually used to
translate a host name into an IP address .
– Ex: www.xxx.org <-> IP 212.87.7.181
• (which one would you rather remember?)

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DNS: Basics

• Hierarchical namespace

• Distributed system – very few core servers

• Stores other information than simple

hostname <-> IP mappings

• Request/response protocol

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DNS Hierarchy

edu com org in

rpi albany ac

iimcal
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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Host name structure

• Each host name is made up of a sequence of
labels separated by periods.
– Each label can be up to 63 characters
– The total name can be at most 255 characters.
• Examples:
– whitehouse.gov
– barney.the.purple.dinosaur.com
– monica.cs.rpi.edu

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Domain Name

• The domain name for a host is the

sequence of labels that lead from the host
(leaf node in the naming tree) to the top of
the worldwide naming tree.

• A domain is a subtree of the worldwide

naming tree.

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Hierarchical Naming
arpa

com edu gov mil net org us

colordao

cs foobar.cs.colorado.edu

foobar
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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Top level domains

• edu, gov, com, net, org, mil, …
• Countries each have a top level domain (2
letter domain name).
– Such as .in, .uk, .it, etc.
• New top level domains include:
.aero .biz .coop .info .name .pro

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 Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Domain Naming System

edu com gov mil org net uk fr

harvard …mit cisco…yahoonasa…nsf arpa…navy acm…ieee

hbs ee physics

www
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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DNS: Architecture
• DNS servers are responsible for one or more
domains of any level
• “Root servers” are maintained throughout the
world (one is in Palo Alto) and are responsible for
all of the top-level domains
– When you register a domain, an entry for that domain is added
to the appropriate root server
• Owners of each regular domain or subdomain
maintain (or outsource) their own DNS servers
containing the correct information

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Name Servers
• Partition hierarchy into zones
edu com gov mil org net uk fr

princeton … mit cisco … yahoo nasa … nsf arpa … navy acm … ieee

cs ee physics

ux01 ux04 Root

name server
Each zone implements two or
more name servers
1. Primary Princeton
name server
… Cisco
name server
2. secondary
CS … EE
name server name server

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Hierarchical Administration - “Zones”

arpa

arpa com in gov mil net org us

ac

iimcal
www.iimcal.ac.in

www

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Administration - Zones

• A zone is a subtree of the DNS tree that is

independently managed
– Second-level domains (“ac.in”) are usually an independent
zone
– Most sub-domains (“iimcal.ac.in”) are also independent.

• A zone must provide multiple name servers.

This server records the members in the
domain.
– You typically need a primary name server and one or more
secondary name servers.
– Secondary retrieves information from primary using a zone
transfer.
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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Resolving an address
• A.C.D wants to know about F.E.D
D

C E
Name
servers
A B F G

• Host “A.C.D” asks “B.C.D” (the local name

server) to resolve “F.E.D”
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Resolving an address

• B.C.D doesn’t know the answer.

• It wants to ask the primary domain server for the
“E.D” domain, so it asks the parent of the “B.C”
domain (“D” in this example) to resolve “E.D”.
• D asks H, the root server.
• H doesn’t know the answer, but it’s the top-level
domain and knows that “G.E.D” is the primary
domain server for the “E.D” domain
• B.C.D now knows the primary domain server for the
E.D domain, and can now ask “G.E.D” about “F.E.D”

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Domain servers
• What kind of records can be requested for a given
domain?
– Address translation
– Caching information
– Mail server information
– Authoritative nameserver information
• How is this data requested?
– Each record has a type and certain data associated with it –
clients request records of a certain type from a server

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DNS Organization
• Distributed Database
– The organization that owns a domain name is responsible
for running a DNS server that can provide the mapping
between hostnames within the domain to IP addresses.
– So - some machine run by RPI is responsible for
everything within the rpi.edu domain.

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DNS Distributed Database

• There is one primary server for a domain,
and typically a number of secondary
servers containing replicated databases.

rpi.edu DNS server

rpi.edu
rpi.edu rpi.edu
rpi.edu
DNS DB
DNS DB DNS
DNSDBDB

Authoritative Replicas

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DNS Clients
• A DNS client is called a resolver.

• A call to gethostbyname()is handled by a

resolver (typically part of the client).

• Most Unix workstations have the file

/etc/resolv.conf that contains the local
domain and the addresses of DNS servers
for that domain.

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

/etc/resolv.conf

domain rpi.edu
128.113.1.5
128.113.1.3

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

nslookup

• nslookup is an interactive resolver that

allows the user to communicate directly
with a DNS server.

• nslookup is usually available on Unix

workstations. (dig and host are also DNS
clients).

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DNS Servers

• Servers handle requests for their domain

directly.
• Servers handle requests for other domains
by contacting remote DNS server(s).
• Servers cache external mappings.

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Server - Server Communication

• If a server is asked to provide the mapping
for a host outside it’s domain (and the
mapping is not in the server cache):
– The server finds a nameserver for the target domain.
– The server asks the nameserver to provide the host
name to IP translation.
• To find the right nameserver, use DNS!

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DNS Data

• DNS databases contain more than just

hostname-to-address records:
– Name server records NS
– Hostname aliases CNAME
– Mail Exchangers MX
– Host Information HINFO

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

The Root DNS Server

• The root server needs to know the address

of 1st (and many 2nd) level domain
nameservers.

edu com org jp

rpi albany
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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Server Operation

• If a server has no clue about where to find

the address for a hostname, ask the root
server.
• The root server will tell you what
nameserver to contact.
• A request may get forwarded a few times.

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DNS Message Format

HEADER
HEADER
QUERIES
QUERIES
Response
Response RESOURCE
RESOURCE RECORDS
RECORDS
Response
Response AUTHORITY
AUTHORITY RECORDS
RECORDS
Response
Response ADDITIONAL
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
INFORMATION

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

DNS Message Header

• query identifier
16 bit fields

• flags
• # of questions
• # of RRs
•
•
# of authority RRs
# of additional RRs } Response

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Message Flags

• QR: Query=0, Response=1

• AA: Authoritative Answer
• TC: response truncated (> 512 bytes)
• RD: recursion desired
• RA: recursion available
• rcode: return code

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Recursion

• A request can indicate that recursion is

desired - this tells the server to find out
the answer (possibly by contacting other
servers).
• If recursion is not requested - the
response may be a list of other name
servers to contact.

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Question Format

• Name: domain name (or IP address)

• Query type (A, NS, MX, …)

• Query class (1 for IP)

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Response Resource Record

• Domain Name
• Response type
• Class (IP)
• Time to live (in seconds)
• Length of resource data
• Resource data

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

UDP & TCP

• Both UDP and TCP are used:

– TCP for transfers of entire database to secondary
servers (replication).
– UDP for lookups
– If more than 512 bytes in response - requestor
resubmits request using TCP.

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Lots more

• This is not a complete description !

• If interested - look at:
– RFC 1034: DNS concepts and facilities.
– RFC 1035: DNS implementation and protocol
specification.
– play with nslookup.
– Look at code for BIND (DNS server code).

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

References

• RFC 1034
• RFC 1035

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

SNMP - Simple Network

Management Protocol

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

Third Question

• How does your computer know which IP to

use?

• How does your computer know that

www.iimcal.ac.in is at IP 202.54.116.3?

• How can you track your network’s

health?

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

SNMP is …
• A network management tool
– Designed to allow data acquisition from SNMP capable
network equipment
– Allows control of SNMP capable equipment by the distant
controller
• Based on inquiry/response architecture
with simple response parameters

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

SNMP is …
• Used for management of fault conditions –
prevention of and response to network
failure
• Designed to manage performance – coping
with deterioration of performance due to
congestion, changing traffic conditions

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

SNMP Message Protocol

• Messages use UDP, ports 161 (requests/responses)
and 162 (notifications)
• Message types:
– GetRequest: request values of variables from device
– GetNextRequest: request value of variable following the one
supplied
– GetResponse: return values
– SetRequest: instruct device to set values of variables
– Trap: from device - notify monitor / manager of value change

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Lecture on DHCP, DNS & SNMP Debashis Saha

To know more on SNMP

• “Essential SNMP”, Douglas R Mauro & Kevin

J Schmidt, Shroff Publishers &
Distributors, Calcutta, 2001

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