IP Configuration
IPv4 Management and Interfaces
Cisco Small Business 200, 300 and 500 Series Managed Switch Administration Guide (Internal Version)  281
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• DHCP Insertion - Add Option 82 information to packets that do not have 
foreign Option 82 information.
• DHCP Passthrough - Forward or reject DHCP packets that contain Option 
82 information from untrusted ports. On trusted ports, DHCP packets 
containing Option 82 information are always forwarded.
The following table shows the packet flow through the DHCP Relay, DHCP 
Snooping, and Option 82 modules:
The following cases are possible:
• DHCP client and DHCP server are connected to the same VLAN. In this 
case, a regular bridging passes the DHCP messages between DHCP client 
and DHCP server.
• DHCP client and DHCP server are connected to different VLANs. In the 
case, only DHCP Relay can and does broadcast DHCP messages between 
DHCP client and DHCP server. Unicast DHCP messages are passed by 
regular routers and therefore if DHCP Relay is enabled on a VLAN without 
an IP address or if the device is not a router (Layer 2 device) then an 
external router is needed. 
DHCP Relay and only DHCP Relay relays DHCP messages to a DHCP server 
Interactions Between DHCPv4 Snooping, DHCPv4 Relay and 
Option 82
The following tables describe how the device behaves with various combinations 
of DHCP Snooping, DHCP Relay and Option 82. 
The following describes how DHCP request packets are handled when DHCP 
Snooping is not enabled and DHCP Relay is enabled. 
DHCP Relay
VLAN with IP Address
DHCP Relay
VLAN without IP Address
Packet arrives 
without Option 
82
Packet arrives 
with Option 
82
Packet arrives 
without 
Option 82
Packet arrives 
with Option 
82