A network administrator is responsible for assigning which devices receive
which IP addresses in a corporate network. The admin assigns an IP address to
a device in one of two ways: by configuring the device with a specific address
or by letting the device automatically learn its address from the network.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is the protocol used for automatic
IP address assignment. Dynamic addressing saves considerable administrative
effort and conserves IP addressing space. It can be difficult to manually
administer IP addresses for every computer and device on a network. Most
networks use DHCP to automatically assign an available IP address to a device
when it connects to the network. Generally, devices that don’t move around
receive fixed addresses, known as static addressing. For example, servers,
routers, and switches usually receive static IP addresses. The rest use dynamic
addressing. For home networks you do not need a network administrator to
set up your address; instead, a home broadband router allocates IP addresses
via DHCP.