2.2 Using DHCP with ClearCase

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is an Internet standard protocol that allows a host to use a temporary, dynamically assigned IP address. This standard is widely implemented on Windows computers and is also available on some UNIX computers. Because ClearCase caches IP addresses for an extended period of time, you must understand potential interactions between DHCP and ClearCase if the computers at your site that run ClearCase use DHCP.

It is possible to configure DHCP in a variety of ways. In some configurations, the IP address of a computer may change at boot time, which can present problems for ClearCase. Fortunately, in most common scenarios (for example, when the DHCP lease time is set to be at least a few days, and no computers that run ClearCase are down for more than half the lease time), IP addresses do not change when the computer is rebooted, and you should have no problems running ClearCase in a DHCP-based environment.