5-1 
5  DHCP/BOOTP Client Configuration 
Introduction to DHCP Client 
After you specify a VLAN interface as a DHCP client, the device can use DHCP to obtain parameters 
such as IP address dynamically from the DHCP server, which facilitates user configuration and 
management. 
Refer to “
Obtaining IP Addresses Dynamically” for the process of how a DHCP client dynamically 
obtains an IP address through DHCP. 
Introduction to Automatic Configuration 
Application Background 
With the automatic configuration feature, a device, upon startup without any configuration file, can 
automatically obtain a configuration file from a remote server for initialization. 
Since the devices of an enterprise network may be deployed in a wide geographical area, the task of 
manually configuring each device is huge. With the automatic configuration feature, the network 
administrator can save the configuration file on a server for other devices to get. 
Therefore, the automatic configuration feature simplifies network configuration and facilitates the 
centralized management of devices. 
 
To implement the automatic configuration feature, there is no need to configure devices that need to get 
a configuration file, but you need to configure some parameters on the DHCP server and save the 
configuration files on the TFTP server. Since the configuration varies with devices, refer to the operation 
manuals of related servers for detailed configuration information.