Note: This article pertains to Mac OS X Server versions 1.x, which were released prior to May 2001.
DHCP has grown in popularity in recent years, and is now used widely.
Mac OS X Server does not implement DHCP in the initial relase of the product, but does fully implement bootp, of which DHCP is a superset. Bootp supports boot-time assignment of TCP/IP address, gateway router, subnet mask, and hostname over ethernet. Nameservers must be provided in /etc/hosts or configured manually. This dynamic assignment can be promiscuous, or restricted to particular MAC addresses ("Media Access Control", Ethernet hardware addresses).
Bootp is typically not routed, so as a rule, clients requiring bootp services must be on the same segment a bootp server.