The use of DHCP is highly recommended and there are a number of obvious reasons why you should use it. As mentioned before, there are two ways you can configure client addresses on a computer network, either manually or automatically. Manual configuration requires the careful input of a unique IP address, subnet mask, default router address and a Domain Name Server address. In an ideal world, manually assigning client addresses should be relatively straight forward and error free. Unfortunately, we do not live in an ideal world; computers are frequently moved and new systems get added to a network. Also if a major network resource, such as a router (which interconnects networks) changes network addresses, this could mean changing EVERY system's configuration. For a network administrator this process can be time consuming, tedious and error prone. Problems can occur when manually setting up your client machines, so if you have the option to set-up your client machines automatically, please do, as it will save you time and a lot of headaches.
DHCP has several major advantages over manual configurations. Each computer gets its configuration from a "pool" of available numbers automatically for a specific time period (called a leasing period), meaning no wasted numbers. When a computer has finished with the address, it is released for another computer to use. Configuration information can be administered from a single point. Major network resource changes (e.g. a router changing address), requires only the DHCP server be