.\" dhcpd.conf.5
.\"
-.\" Copyright (c) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998 The Internet Software Consortium.
-.\" All rights reserved.
+.\" Copyright (c) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999
+.\" The Internet Software Consortium. All rights reserved.
.\"
.\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
.\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
override the use of the name in the host declaration.
.PP
.B The
+.I authoritative
+.B statement
+.PP
+ \fBauthoritative;\fR
+.PP
+ \fBnot authoritative;\fR
+.PP
+The DHCP server will normally assume that the configuration
+information about a given network segment is known to be correct and
+is authoritative. So if a client requests an IP address on a given
+network segment that the server knows is not valid for that segment,
+the server will respond with a DHCPNAK message, causing the client to
+forget its IP address and try to get a new one.
+.PP
+If a DHCP server is being configured by somebody who is not the
+network administrator and who therefore does not wish to assert this
+level of authority, then the statement "not authoritative" should be
+written in the appropriate scope in the configuration file.
+.PP
+Usually, writing \fBnot authoritative;\fR at the top level of the file
+should be sufficient. However, if a DHCP server is to be set up so
+that it is aware of some networks for which it is authoritative and
+some networks for which it is not, it may be more appropriate to
+declare authority on a per-network-segment basis.
+.PP
+Note that the most specific scope for which the concept of authority
+makes any sense is the physical network segment - either a
+shared-network statement or a subnet statement that is not contained
+within a shared-network statement. It is not meaningful to specify
+that the server is authoritative for some subnets within a shared
+network, but not authoritative for others, nor is it meaningful to
+specify that the server is authoritative for some host declarations
+and not others.
+.PP
+.B The
.I use-lease-addr-for-default-route
.B statement
.PP