Use of the "Seconds" Field for BOOTP Relay Agents

 Last reviewed: March 26, 1997
Article ID: Q148412

The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows NT Server versions 3.5 and 3.51

  • Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0

SUMMARY

Some BOOTP Relay Agents implement the use of the Seconds field in a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Discover or BOOTP BOOTREQUEST packet as defined in RFC 1542. This option will limit the clients Discover broadcast to the local subnet until the seconds threshold is reached. This option can reduce network traffic and increase the chance that a local server will service the request.

MORE INFORMATION

The Relay Agent will only forward the packet if the Seconds field is higher than the threshold set. RFC recommends the default to be 4 seconds. The seconds field is defined as the number of seconds from the first packet sent. For example, the first packet sent will have a value of 0. The next packet sent would have a value of 10, if it was sent 10 seconds after the first packet.

This feature is supported in the Windows NT BOOTP Relay Agent.

For additional information, please see the following article(s) in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   ARTICLE-ID: Q138793
   TITLE     : Multi-Protocol Router Installation and Configuration
RFC 1542 does not require BOOTP Relay Agents to support the Seconds field.

Additional query words:
Keywords : kbnetwork ntprotocol NTSrv
Version : 3.5 3.51 4.0
Platform : WinNT

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Last reviewed: March 26, 1997
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