Verification for Xenial: ubuntu@dixie:~$ uname -a Linux dixie 4.4.0-31-generic #50-Ubuntu SMP Wed Jul 13 00:07:12 UTC 2016 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux ubuntu@dixie:~$ lsb_release -a No LSB modules are available. Distributor ID: Ubuntu Description: Ubuntu 16.04.1 LTS Release: 16.04 Codename: xenial ubuntu@dixie:~$ dpkg -l | grep isc-dhcp ii isc-dhcp-client 4.3.3-5ubuntu12.1 amd64 DHCP client for automatically obtaining an IP address ii isc-dhcp-common 4.3.3-5ubuntu12.1 amd64 common files used by all of the isc-dhcp packages ii isc-dhcp-server 4.3.3-5ubuntu12.1 amd64 ISC DHCP server for automatic IP address assignment You can observe that DHCP works AND broadcast flag is set (by sniffing dhcp server ib0 interface): ubuntu@dixie:~$ sudo tcpdump -i ib0 -nn -vvv -S tcpdump: listening on ib0, link-type LINUX_SLL (Linux cooked), capture size 262144 bytes 16:21:22.603191 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 128, id 0, offset 0, flags [none], proto UDP (17), length 328) 0.0.0.0.68 > 255.255.255.255.67: [udp sum ok] BOOTP/DHCP, Request, length 300, htype 32, hlen 0, xid 0x6775c96f, Flags [Broadcast] (0x8000) Vendor-rfc1048 Extensions Magic Cookie 0x63825363 DHCP-Message Option 53, length 1: Discover Hostname Option 12, length 5: "hertz" Parameter-Request Option 55, length 13: Subnet-Mask, BR, Time-Zone, Default-Gateway Domain-Name, Domain-Name-Server, Option 119, Hostname Netbios-Name-Server, Netbios-Scope, MTU, Classless-Static-Route NTP Client-ID Option 61, length 17: hardware-type 56, 30:3a:30:30:3a:30:30:3a:34:38:3a:46:45:3a:38:30 END Option 255, length 0 PAD Option 0, length 0, occurs 15 16:21:22.603401 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 128, id 0, offset 0, flags [none], proto UDP (17), length 328) 172.16.0.1.67 > 255.255.255.255.68: [udp sum ok] BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, length 300, htype 32, hlen 0, xid 0x6775c96f, Flags [Broadcast] (0x8000) Your-IP 172.16.0.19 Server-IP 172.16.0.1 Vendor-rfc1048 Extensions Magic Cookie 0x63825363 DHCP-Message Option 53, length 1: Offer Server-ID Option 54, length 4: 172.16.0.1 Lease-Time Option 51, length 4: 600 Subnet-Mask Option 1, length 4: 255.255.255.0 BR Option 28, length 4: 172.16.0.255 Domain-Name Option 15, length 7: "myib.cu" END Option 255, length 0 PAD Option 0, length 0, occurs 23 16:21:22.603586 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 128, id 0, offset 0, flags [none], proto UDP (17), length 328) 0.0.0.0.68 > 255.255.255.255.67: [udp sum ok] BOOTP/DHCP, Request, length 300, htype 32, hlen 0, xid 0x6775c96f, Flags [Broadcast] (0x8000) Vendor-rfc1048 Extensions Magic Cookie 0x63825363 DHCP-Message Option 53, length 1: Request Server-ID Option 54, length 4: 172.16.0.1 Requested-IP Option 50, length 4: 172.16.0.19 Hostname Option 12, length 5: "hertz" Parameter-Request Option 55, length 13: Subnet-Mask, BR, Time-Zone, Default-Gateway Domain-Name, Domain-Name-Server, Option 119, Hostname Netbios-Name-Server, Netbios-Scope, MTU, Classless-Static-Route NTP Client-ID Option 61, length 17: hardware-type 56, 30:3a:30:30:3a:30:30:3a:34:38:3a:46:45:3a:38:30 END Option 255, length 0 PAD Option 0, length 0, occurs 3 16:21:22.603758 IP (tos 0x10, ttl 128, id 0, offset 0, flags [none], proto UDP (17), length 328) 172.16.0.1.67 > 255.255.255.255.68: [udp sum ok] BOOTP/DHCP, Reply, length 300, htype 32, hlen 0, xid 0x6775c96f, Flags [Broadcast] (0x8000) Your-IP 172.16.0.19 Server-IP 172.16.0.1 Vendor-rfc1048 Extensions Magic Cookie 0x63825363 DHCP-Message Option 53, length 1: ACK Server-ID Option 54, length 4: 172.16.0.1 Lease-Time Option 51, length 4: 600 Subnet-Mask Option 1, length 4: 255.255.255.0 BR Option 28, length 4: 172.16.0.255 Domain-Name Option 15, length 7: "myib.cu" END Option 255, length 0 PAD Option 0, length 0, occurs 23 Everything looks good!!