How RARP Differs from BootP and DHCP

RARP, BootP, and DHCP are different methods for providing IP addresses to IP hosts when they boot. These methods differ in the following ways:

• Location of configured host addresses
  • RARP requires static configuration of the host IP addresses on the Layer 3 device. The Layer 3 device replies directly to a host request by sending an IP address you have configured in the RARP table.
  • The Layer 3 device forwards BootP and DHCP requests to a third-party BootP/DHCP server that contains the IP addresses and other host configuration information.
• Connection of host to boot source (Layer 3 device or BootP/DHCP server)
  • RARP requires the IP host to be directly attached to the Layer 3 device.
  • An IP host and the BootP/DHCP server can be on different networks and on different routers as long as the routers are configured to forward ("help") the host boot request to the boot server.
  • You can centrally configure other host parameters on the BootP/DHCP server and supply those parameters to the host along with its IP address.

To configure the Layer 3 device to forward BootP/DHCP requests when boot clients and boot servers are on different subnets on different Layer 3 device interfaces, refer to the DHCP client section in the Brocade FastIron DHCP Configuration Guide.