Re: I never thought of this scenario

On Sun, 21 Apr 2024 11:10:49 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Calling this action a 'relay agent' makes it all into something it is
not - a separate addition to routers in general.  DHCP can be and is
routed by routers.

Not without these separate “relay agents”, as even those who try to keep
insisting that “DHCP is routable” have already admitted.

Routable protocols can make it through routers without the help of special
protocol-specific agents. Routers forward layer-3 packets, and whatever is
embedded within them is taken along for the ride, transparently.

But that requires a properly configured layer 3 in order to work. And that
is what DHCP provides. Therefore, since DHCP’s function is to set up layer
3 in the first place (without the requirement for individual node
configuration), it cannot rely on the existence of a fully-functioning
layer 3 to begin with. Therefore it cannot be routed. QED.