[dhcwg] question regarding dhcp

"mark and christie smith" <mncsmith@prodigy.net> Fri, 09 November 2001 20:05 UTC

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From: mark and christie smith <mncsmith@prodigy.net>
To: dhcwg@ietf.org
Date: Fri, 09 Nov 2001 11:52:59 -0800
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Subject: [dhcwg] question regarding dhcp
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Hi, I help to run an active website, which has experienced some confusion as of late. It appears that three webtv users who come to our site all have the same IP number. I spoke with someone at IANA, who tried explaining to me in laymans terms how that could occur.

As I understand it, a company which uses a DHCP server essentially assigns semi-permanent ip numbers to individuals at random. Semi-permanent in that they do change, but depending on the individual company, a person may a number that appears to be static for a period of time ranging 2 weeks to a month or sometimes more.

I was also told that two or more individuals can appear to have the same ip number, if one has enough computer savvy to cloak their ip behind someone else's. He said this is called spoofing, and is usually done only by hackers. He also said it is most often done by people using the same gateway, and that it is highly unlikely that two or more individuals from different regions of the country would have the same gateway server for a large company such as webtv or aol.

Unfortuantely he was unable to provide me with any written documentation, certainly not that a layperson could easily understand, as they do not usually deal with the general public. He suggest I research IP Spoofing and DHCP on the internet.

Could you please verify in writing, or with documentation, what I have been told?

Sincerely,
Christie Smith