Automatic TCP/IP addressing without a DHCP server

ZEROCONF commonly known as IPv4 Link-Local (IPv4LL) and Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA) uses the range 169.254.0.0/16 for network addresses. This APIPA addressing is activated by default, this are often not desired by system administrators.

Most Windows versions and Linux distributions use zero network configuration (ZEROCONF) to automatically configure the network without a central instance, i.e. without the need for a DHCP or DNS server to be present in a network. ZEROCONF published at IETF that plans and coordinates a number of dynamic protocols; it is intended to enable an operating system to automatically configure networks.

Under Windows APIPA ZEROCONF can be disable due modify the registry, to do it with open the command prompt as administrator and run the REG command with Copy & Paste.

REG ADD HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip\Parameters /v IPAutoconfigurationEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d "00000000" /f

In Linux edit the network file and insert ZEROCONF = YES or NO.

sudo vi /etc/sysconfig/network

NOZEROCONF=yes

RHEL / Fedora / CentOS configuring as follows.

service network restart

For Debian and Ubuntu the avahi-daemon configuration has to be changed.

sudo vi /etc/default/avahi-daemon

AVAHI_DAEMON_DETECT_LOCAL=0

Now restart Debian / Ubuntu avahi-daemon.

sudo /etc/init.d/avahi-daemon restart

The avahi-daemon should do not start automatically on system boot.

update-rc.d -f avahi-daemon remove

Using RHEL or CentOS run this command.

chkconfig avahi-daemon off