Jeff, a network engineer, is troubleshooting an issue where clients are not receiving IP addresses from a new, properly configured DHCP server on another subnet. Statically addressed clients can get…

Incorrect VLAN tagging would prevent communication entirely for affected clients, but statically addressed clients are unaffected and communicate normally, indicating a DHCP relay issue rather than a VLAN problem.

DHCP relies on broadcast messages (DHCPDISCOVER) that are blocked by routers by default. An IP helper address (ip helper-address) configured on the router interface facing the client subnet instructs the router to forward these broadcasts as unicast packets to the DHCP server on the remote subnet, enabling cross-subnet DHCP assignment. Without this, only statically addressed clients can communicate normally.

A wrong default gateway would prevent clients from reaching external networks but would not stop them from receiving a DHCP lease from a server on the same subnet - the server is on a different subnet here.

Improper routing protocols would affect general routing across the network, but statically assigned clients can already communicate, meaning routing itself is functional.