DHCP is just a protocol that will assign IP addresses
dynamically. It allows you to manage a network efficiently,
especially a large one.
You need to configure the network router to be on DHCP mode in
order for this work.
Also, clients on the network have to turn on the DHCP services in
order for the router to assign an IP address dynamically.
In Windows, this is turned on by default.
In Linux, you will have to refer to the various manuals online to
get a list of services and enable them. Some have a GUI, but as a
network administrator... you probably won't touch GUI much. It's
mostly command line.
On Redhat, SuSE, Fedora, Mandriva, CentOS, try this:
chkconfig --list
If it doesn't work, try sudo chkconfig --list or
su chkconfig --list
For other versions, use these lists:
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/linux/cmd/
http://www.ss64.com/bash
