User`s guide

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TCP/IP Network Basics

IP Address Configuration Methods

This section introduces some IP address configuration methods, including:

! Configuration Methods Overview

! Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)

! Auto-IP/ZEROCONF

! Duplicate IP Address Detection

Configuration Methods Overview

IP address configuration methods can be divided into two categories:

automatic IP configuration and manual IP configuration.

! Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) provides automatic

TCP/IP setup for devices on networks that support DHCP.

! Auto-IP/ZEROCONF provides automatic TCP/IP setup for devices

on networks that do not support DHCP.

! Manual IP Configuration provides manual TCP/IP setup for devices

on manually configured networks.

This table shows the applicablility of these methods to various network

topologies.

Network Topology Automatic IP Manual IP

DHCP Auto-IP ZEROCONF

Site LAN [with DHCP] Yes No No Yes

Site LAN [without DHCP] No Yes Yes Yes

Private LAN [with DHCP] Yes No No Yes

Private LAN [without DHCP] No Yes Yes Yes