Which message initiates the DHCP lease process?

Which message initiates the DHCP lease process?

• A. Acknowledge
• B. Offer
• C. Discover
• D. Request

Answer: (C)

The message that starts the process is sent by a client that needs an IP address: it broadcasts a DHCPDISCOVER message to find available DHCP servers. This initiates the four-step flow—Discover, Offer, Request, Acknowledge—where servers respond with offers, the client requests a selected option, and the server confirms with an acknowledgement to finalize the lease. The reason this is the best answer is because the client has no IP yet and uses this broadcast to begin negotiation with any reachable DHCP server; the other messages come later in the sequence: an offer from the server, a request from the client, and finally an acknowledgment from the server.

The message that starts the process is sent by a client that needs an IP address: it broadcasts a DHCPDISCOVER message to find available DHCP servers. This initiates the four-step flow—Discover, Offer, Request, Acknowledge—where servers respond with offers, the client requests a selected option, and the server confirms with an acknowledgement to finalize the lease. The reason this is the best answer is because the client has no IP yet and uses this broadcast to begin negotiation with any reachable DHCP server; the other messages come later in the sequence: an offer from the server, a request from the client, and finally an acknowledgment from the server.