Is it possible for DHCP to assign different IP addresses to the same machine?

Question

I have installed and configured a DHCP server on my CentOS 6.5. It works properly and assign IP addresses to the clients machines on my network, and as I noticed when a client reconnect the DHCP server reassigns the IP address that it already assigned to this client. My questions are:

1. Is it a possibility for DHCP to assign different IP addresses to the same machine?
2. If it does that, how long does it remember that it assigned this IP address to this client (MAC address)?
3. If it doesn't, when the range is fully used, is it a possibility for DHCP to assign an IP address (that it remembered that it assigned to a MAC address) to another machine? For example, if client1 take 192.168.1.20 as an IP address and then it disconnects and another client (client2) connects and the only IP address left is 192.168.1.20, does the DHCP server assign this IP address to the new client (client2) or does it keep it to the old client (client1) and if it keeps it, for how long?

Answer 1

You've got it backwards, unless static leases have been configured, a DHCP server only keeps persistent state of currently assigned IP addresses the server has committed to, and possible IP addresses that have been offered, but not yet requested by the client. The server commits to an IP address for the duration of the lease time (which is configured at the server), although clients can renew a lease if needed, or until a client release the IP address voluntarily. It is the client that remembers the address previously assigned to it and re-requests it from the DHCP server.

Typically, when a client first joins a network, it broadcasts DHCPDISCOVER messages on the local physical subnet. DHCP servers on the subnet respond with DHCPOFFER messages containing a number of configuration options, including the IP address offered. The client responds with a DHCPREQUEST message to a particular server, asking to reserve the offerred IP address. The server either acknowledges the lease with a DHCPACK message, or a DHCPNAK (negative acknowledgement) in case it is not able to satisfy the lease specified in the previously received DHCPREQUEST (e.g. the address has been leased to another client in the meantime).

If the client remembers an IP address previously allocated to it, it may skip the DHCPDISCOVER step and broadcast a DHCPREQUEST message requesting the previous address on the local subnet. Servers with knowledge of the client's configuration parameters respond with a DHCPACK. If the client's request is invalid (e.g. the client has moved to a new subnet) servers respond with a DHCPNACK.

Note that while the servers maintain state of what IP addresses they have assigned, it is not their responsibility to determine if the IP address requested by a client in fact is unused. If the client detects (e.g., through the use of ARP) that the address it requested (and received an acknowledgement for) is already used, it is mandated to decline the address by sending a DHCPDECLINE message to the server.

The DHCP protocol is defined in RFC 2131. Client-server interaction is detailed in section 3.1. Reusing a previously allocated network address is described specifically in section 3.2.