BOOTP application

After you specify an interface of a device as a BOOTP client, the interface can use BOOTP to get information (such as IP address) from the BOOTP server.

To use BOOTP, an administrator must configure a BOOTP parameter file for each BOOTP client on the BOOTP server. The parameter file contains information such as MAC address and IP address of a BOOTP client. When a BOOTP client sends a request to the BOOTP server, the BOOTP server searches for the BOOTP parameter file and returns the corresponding configuration information.

BOOTP is usually used in relatively stable environments. In network environments that change frequently, DHCP is more suitable.

Because a DHCP server can interact with a BOOTP client, you can use the DHCP server to configure an IP address for the BOOTP client, without any BOOTP server.