RFC 3396 (rfc3396) - Page 2 of 9
Encoding Long Options in the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCPv4)
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 3396 Encoding Long Options in DHCPv4 November 2002 However, in some cases it may be useful to send options that are longer than 255 bytes. RFC 2131 [3] specifies that when more than one option with a given type code appears in the DHCP packet, all such options should be concatenated together. It does not, however, specify the order in which this concatenation should occur. We specify here the ordering that MUST be used by DHCP protocol agents when sending options with more than 255 bytes. This method also MUST be used for splitting options that are shorter than 255 bytes, if for some reason the encoding agent needs to do so. DHCP protocol agents MUST use this method whenever they receive a DHCP packet containing more than one occurrence of a certain type of option. 2. Terminology DHCP Throughout this document, the acronym "DHCP" is used to refer to the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol as specified in RFC 2131 [3] and RFC 2132 [4]. DHCPv4 We have used the term "DHCPv4" in the abstract for this document to distinguish between the DHCP protocol for IPv4 as defined in RFC 2131 and RFC 2132 and the DHCP protocol for IPv6, which, at the time that this document was written, was still under development. DHCP protocol agents This refers to any device on the network that sends or receives DHCP packets - any DHCP client, server or relay agent. The nature of these devices is not important to this specification. Encoding agent The DHCP protocol agent that is composing a DHCP packet to send. Decoding agent The DHCP protocol agent that is processing a DHCP packet it has received. Options DHCP options are collections of data with type codes that indicate how the options should be used. Options can specify information that is required for the DHCP protocol, IP stack configuration parameters for the client, information allowing the client to rendezvous with DHCP servers, and so on. Lemon & Cheshire Standards Track
