DHCP relay agent

The function of the DHCP relay agent is to forward the DHCP messages to other subnets so that the DHCP server does not have to be on the same subnet as the DHCP clients. The DHCP relay agent transfers DHCP messages from the DHCP clients located on a subnet without a DHCP server, to other subnets. It also relays answers from DHCP servers to DHCP clients.

Supported interfaces

The DHCP relay agent is supported on layer 3 interfaces, layer 3 VLAN interfaces, and LAG interfaces. DHCP relay is not supported on the management interface.

VRF support

The DHCP relay agent is VRF aware and behaves as follows when VRFs are defined on the switch:

  • DHCP client requests received on an interface are forwarded to the configured servers via the VRF that the interface is part of.
  • DHCP server responses received on an interface are forwarded to the client that is reachable via the VRF that the interface is part of.