📡 DHCP-Project

Welcome to the DHCP-Project! This repository contains the implementation of a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) for a NAT network. The project includes both a client and server written in C, providing functionalities to assign IP addresses dynamically to clients through UDP sockets.

🌟 Project Overview

The DHCP-Project aims to simulate the behavior of the DHCP protocol in a controlled NAT network environment. The primary goal of the project is to provide:

• IP Address Assignment: Allocate IP addresses dynamically to clients.
• Subnet Mask Configuration: Set up subnet masks for clients to correctly communicate within the network.
• DNS Server Assignment: Configure Domain Name System (DNS) information for client requests.

This implementation is designed to run within a NAT environment, typically using two VirtualBox virtual machines, to simulate both client and server interaction.

The project demonstrates the working of DHCP in distributing network configuration parameters using UDP sockets for communication. Each time a client joins the network, it requests network configuration, and the server dynamically allocates an IP address that has not been previously assigned.

⚙️ Installation

Follow the steps below to get started with the DHCP-Project:

Step 1: Clone the Repository

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/MauricioCa07/DHCP-Project.git

Step 2: Setting Up the Client

# Navigate to the client directory
cd client

# Compile the client
gcc -o dhcp_client main.c dhcp_client.c

# Run the client (use sudo for permissions)
sudo ./dhcp_client

Step 3: Setting Up the Server

# Navigate to the server directory
cd ../server/

# Compile the server
gcc -o dhcp_server main.c dhcp_server.c

# Run the server (use sudo for permissions)
sudo ./dhcp_server

Note: The client and server must run on two separate machines within the same NAT network. VirtualBox virtual machines are recommended for this purpose.

🚀 Usage

Each time the client is executed, it connects to the DHCP server to request an IP address and obtain other network configuration parameters such as subnet mask and DNS server information. The server keeps track of allocated IP addresses to ensure each connected client receives a unique IP.

The DHCP process typically follows these steps:

1. Client Request: The client sends a DHCP discover message to identify available servers.
2. Server Offer: The server replies with an available IP offer.
3. Client Acceptance: The client accepts the offered IP by sending a DHCP request message.
4. Server Acknowledgement: The server confirms and assigns the IP address to the client.

This implementation follows these steps to provide clients with network configuration dynamically.

🛠️ Features

• Dynamic IP Address Assignment
• Subnet Mask and DNS Assignment
• UDP Socket Communication for DHCP messages

🧑‍💻 Author

• MauricioCa07 - Original creator of this project.
• Alkran93 - coder
• user20037 -coder

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Thank you for checking out DHCP-Project! If this project helped you, please give it a ⭐️ on GitHub!

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Happy Networking! 😊