Illustrated TCP/IP by Matthew G. Naugle Wiley Computer Publishing, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN: 0471196568   Pub Date: 11/01/98

Chapter 314
IP Address Allocation

The next service that DHCP provides for is IP address allocation. Three methods are supported: automatic allocation, dynamic allocation, and manual allocation.

Automatic allocation permanently assigns an IP address to a requesting host. Dynamic allocation gives an IP address to a requesting host for a specific amount of time. Manual allocation is the ability to reconfigure an IP address for a host, and the server simply relays that information when the host requests its IP address. This differs from automatic allocation in that with manual allocation, the IP address is preconfigured for the host by the system administrator, whereas the automatic allocation gives an arbitrary address (from a pool of IP addresses) to a requesting host. In other words, the host is not preconfigured with the IP address for that host.