Linux Force DHCP client (dhclient) to renew ip address

Q. I'm using Ubuntu Linux. How to force Linux to reacquire a new IP address from the DHCP server? What is the command in Linux equivalent to Windows' "ipconfig /renew" Command?

A. You need to use Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Client i.e. dhclient command. The client normally doesn't release the current lease as it is not required by the DHCP protocol. Some cable ISPs require their clients to notify the server if they wish to release an assigned IP address.

Linux renew ip command

The -r flag explicitly releases the current lease, and once the lease has been released, the client exits. For example, open terminal and type the command:
$ sudo dhclient -r
Now obtain fresh IP:
$ sudo dhclient

There is no need to restart network service. Above command should work with any Linux distro such as RHEL, Fedora, CentOS, Ubuntu and others. On a related note you can also try out the following commands:
# ifdown eth0
# ifup eth0
# /etc/init.d/network restart
OR
# /etc/init.d/networking restart

From:http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/howto-linux-renew-dhcp-client-ip-address/