host hostname {
   [ parameters ]
   [ declarations ]
 }

There must be at least one host statement for every BOOTP client to be served. host statements may also be specified for DHCP clients, although this is not required unless booting is only enabled for known hosts.

If it is desirable to be able to boot a DHCP or BOOTP client on more than one subnet with fixed addresses, more than one address may be specified in the fixed-address parameter, or more than one host statement may be specified.

If client-specific boot parameters must change based on the network to which the client is attached, then multiple host statements should be used.

If a client is to be booted using a fixed address if it's possible, but should be allocated a dynamic address otherwise, then a host statement must be specified without a fixed-address clause. hostname should be a name identifying the host. If a hostname option is not specified for the host, hostname is used.

Host declarations are matched to actual DHCP or BOOTP clients in two ways:

1. by matching the dhcp-client-identifier option specified in the host declaration to the one supplied by the client,
   or,
2. if the host declaration or the client does not provide a dhcp-client-identifier option, by matching the hardware parameter in the host declaration to the network hardware address supplied by the client.