O Plameras wrote:
For a long time, I had wanted to ask: why use DHCP in home networks
when one can use STATIC ip (using private network ip addresses)?
Is it not that DHCP is mainly used in situations with the following
combinations of circumstances ?
1. Networks with large numbers of workstations that are not
permanently on line (e.g. customers-workstations-of ISP that connect
only when
required).
3. There are more workstations (customers) than there are
public ip numbers available in an ISP.
These are both valid uses, although I'm curious to know what happened to
number 2. :-)
4. Prevent customers of ISP from running WWW(FTP,MTA,etc) sites without
paying for fixed ip number(s).
Sorry? How does a dynamic address help here? Dynamic DNS services make
actually locating a service a snap. Only effective firewalling prevents
access to the service.
But, to answer your question, DHCP makes networking easy. Routers come
preconfigured with working DHCP server. All the user has to know is to
plug in to the switch and configure their computer to find an IP address
automatically. Seeing as that's the default for Windows and most Linux
installers, home networking has become pretty much a no-brainer unless
you *want* to get your hands dirty in it.
--
Pete
--
SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/
Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
