Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Research Paper

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol - Research Paper Example The Internet or cyberspace, as it is often called alternatively, is virtually limitless such that there are now over a billion Web pages being published and still counting. It is a miracle the Internet (or WWW, short for World Wide Web) has not crashed although some experts expect a major or large scale collapse from a system-wide malfunction between now and the year 2025 (Boehm, 2006, p. 20) and if ever this happens, then almost everything will grind to a sudden halt, causing widespread chaos and confusion. Various industry sectors such as communications, transportation, financial transactions, banking services, power generation and distribution, health care services and all major industrial production will be adversely affected if there is a major software malfunction on the Internet. It is just one side of the same coin, as the Internet infrastructure is also largely dependent on all its major hardware components, such as hosts, servers and routers. There are many vendors who are offering their products and services in this regard, such that it is necessary to adopt some form of standard to make all the various hardware and software components interconnect with each other seamlessly and virtually assure users and consumers a zero-downtime Internet service. The necessity for a standard system has been met with the adoption of protocols (digital message formats and rules agreed to by everyone) by which all Internet stakeholders operate on a common platform to assure constant and reliable communications. This is the topic of this brief paper, the dynamic host configuration protocol, or known by its initials, DHCP. As the evolution of the Internet is quite fast,... This paper stresses that DHCP becomes even more useful as more networks gradually migrate to the new IPv6. In most cases, new devices are connected to a network as time goes and DHCP allows this in a systematic and orderly manner without necessarily overwhelming the network. Besides the two benefits of automatic configuration and maintenance of a centralized database of addresses, the other advantages of using DHCP include its scalability, whether managing 10 or 1000 clients, the DHCP makes it easier and the other incentive to use it is flexibility in configuration as computers and devices change their respective IP addresses from time to time. This report makes a conclusion that dynamic host configuration protocol has served its purpose of being the mainstay in the normal functioning of the computer networks so essential to modern life today. It has proven its usefulness by being compatible with the new IPv6 that is now gradually being implemented with the assurance that networking will not run out of needed valid IP addresses, providing more than enough addresses that figuratively and literally extends to infinity and beyond. DHCP provided a smooth transition slightly more than a year ago, on June 08, 2011 when the Internet switched and tested the IPv6 without any major glitches and hopefully continue to do so and support the Internet's frenzied expansion well into the future until such time a better protocol can be invented. It has been a proven workhorse for the entire networked world so far.