DHCP Options are additional IP address settings that a DHCP server passes to DHCP clients.
What is DHCP Options?
DHCP Options are additional IP address settings that a DHCP server passes to DHCP clients. When a DHCP client requests an IP address from a DHCP server, the server sends the client at least an IP address and a subnet mask value. Additional information can be sent to clients if you configure various DHCP options.
You can assign these options globally to all DHCP clients, to clients belonging to a particular scope, or to an individual host on the network.
You can configure a number of different DHCP options using the Microsoft Windows NT administrative tool DHCP Manager and the Windows 2000 snap-in DHCP console, but the options listed in the following table are the ones most commonly used by Microsoft DHCP clients. In Windows NT–based networks options 3, 6, 44, and 46 are the most commonly used, while in Windows 2000–based networks options 3, 6, and 15 are commonly used.DHCP Options
| Number | Option | What It Configures |
| 003 | Router | Default gateway IP address |
| 006 | DNS Servers | IP addresses of DNS servers |
| 015 | DNS Domain Name | Parent domain of associated DNS servers |
| 044 | NetBIOS over TCP/IP Name Server | IP addresses of Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) server |
| 046 | NetBIOS over TCP/IP Node Type | Method of NetBIOS name resolution to be used by the client |
| 047 | NetBIOS over TCP/IP Scope | Restricts NetBIOS clients to communication with clients that have the same scope ID |
