Using DHCP Clients
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) allows a host to get its IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, DNS servers, and other information from the network, so that you don't have to type these parameters by hand. Network administrators like DHCP because users don't have to nag them for IP addresses when they want to connect to the network.
Like ifconfig, DHCP works on a network interface name. All Linux distributions have a network interface setup option for DHCP, so if you don't feel like digging around to try to find out what file controls the interface settings, it's all right to let your distribution's setup program do the work.
When your machine asks a DHCP server for an IP address, it is really asking for a
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