In my previous post, i defined DHCP, its components and benefits

I will now take you through the process of installing and configuring DHCP server for your organization.

Installing a DHCP Server

, Let’s talk about how to install and configure a Windows Server 2003 based DHCP server. Before I get started, I should mention that the server itself must be configured to use a static IP address.

Begin the process by selecting the Add / Remove Programs option in the Control Panel. When the Add / Remove Programs dialog box opens, click the Add / Remove Windows Components button. After a brief delay, Windows will open the Windows Components Wizard. Scroll through the list of available components until you find the Networking Services option.

Select Networking Services and then click the Details button. You will now see a list of the various Windows network services. Select the check box next to Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol and click OK, followed by Next. Windows will now begin to copy the necessary files. During this operation, you may be prompted to insert your Windows Server installation CD. When the file copy operation completes, click Finish to close the wizard.

How To Configure a DHCP Server On Windows Server 2003

The main process of configuring the DHCP services is almost as simple as the installation was. Before you begin the configuration process though, you will need to come up with at least one scope. Remember that a scope is a range of IP addresses that the DHCP server can lease to clients.

Begin by opening the DHCP console. You can access the DHCP console by selecting the DHCP command from the server’s Administrative Tools menu. When the console opens, the first thing that you will want to do is to create a new scope.

To do so, right click on your server and select the New Scope command from the resulting shortcut menu. This will cause Windows to launch the New Scope wizard. Click Next to bypass the wizard’s Welcome screen and you will be prompted to enter a name and a description for the scope. After doing so, click Next and you will see a screen prompting you to enter the beginning and ending addresses of the scope range. After doing so, you must also enter the subnet mask to be used by the addresses (or the number of bits to use for a subnet) before clicking next.

The next screen gives you a chance to enter any necessary exclusions. Exclusions are addresses within the scope that are already in use. Entering an exclusion address prevents the DHCP server from leasing that address. Enter any exclusions that you might have and click Next. You will now be prompted to enter a lease duration. The lease duration is the length of time that a workstation can use an IP address before having to either give the address up or renew it. The default lease period is eight days, which works fine in most cases.

Click Next and you will see a screen asking if you want to configure extra DHCP options. Select the Yes option and click Next. You are now given the opportunity to enter the address for a default gateway. Click Next and you are presented with a screen that allows you to enter the IP address of one or more DNS servers. Click next one more time and you will be allowed to enter the addresses of any WINS servers that may exist on your network (newer networks do not usually use WINS servers). Click Next once more and you will be asked whether or not you wish to activate the scope. Select the yes option and click Next followed by Finish.

Although the newly created scope has been activated it won’t be used just yet because the DHCP server has not been authorized to issue addresses for your network. To solve this situation, right click on the server’s listing within the DHCP console and select the Authorize command from the shortcut menu. Assuming that you are logged in as a domain administrator, the server will be authorized to start servicing requests.

How To Setup a DHCP Server on Windows Server 2012

Last Updated: Thu, Jul 9, 2015 NetworkingWindows Guides

DHCP is a protocol used to dynamically allocate IP addresses to machines in your network. Not only can Windows Server 2012 be a DNS server or domain controller, it can even be a DHCP server!

Step 1: Installing the DHCP Server

In order to install the DHCP server itself to your Windows Server, go to the “Server Manager”. Click “Manage -> Add Roles and Features”. You will be asked for the role you want to install; this will be “DHCP Server”. You may see the following warning.

Step 2: Completing the DHCP configuration

We will now get a wizard in order to complete our DHCP setup. Click “Complete DHCP configuration”. If you’ve already clicked “Close”, go to your notifications and click “Complete DHCP configuration” from there.

Your DHCP server should not be joined to a domain. In the wizard, click “Commit”. If you don’t see any errors, reboot your server

Step 3: Creating a scope

DHCP on Windows Server is based on “scopes”. Scopes determine the settings that leases will get. You determine which clients will get which scope. For example, if you are setting up a DHCP server for a school, the students might get Google’s DNS servers, whereas teachers will get the DNS servers that are hosted by the school itself. In that case, you would create two scopes: “Students” and “Teachers”. You would set two separate DNS server settings for those two scopes.

In order to create our first scope, navigate to “Server Manager -> Tools -> DHCP”. First off, you must understand that you can give IPv4 and IPv6 leases to clients. These have separate settings and therefore different scopes. Probably, you want to setup IPv4. So right-click on IPv4 in the sidebar and click “New Scope…”. This will open a wizard which will guide you through adding a scope. Click “Next”.

You will now be asked to enter a name and description for the scope. If you do not require different settings for certain devices, you can just call it “DHCP”, for example. Make sure it’s clear, though. Click “Next”.

You will now be able to enter the IP address range. This is the range of IP addresses that this scope will assign to machines with DHCP. This could be 10.0.0.1 to 10.0.0.10, for example. It will automatically add the subnet mask. Click “Next”.

This is the part where you can exclude certain IP addresses from being assigned, which is extremely handy. For example, say you are planning to use the IP address range of 10.0.0.1 – 10.0.0.10, but you know that 10.0.0.3 – 10.0.0.6 are in use and should not be assigned to machines. Then in this case, you can exclude 3-6 from being assigned, even though they’re in the IP address range of the scope. To exclude any IP addresses in the range, click “Add”. When you’re ready to move on, click “Next”.

You will now be able to specify the lease duration. This will determine how long leases will last. The default is 8 hours. It can be anything you want, and it even gives you the option to specify the hours and minutes until the lease expires. Click “Next”.

You will now be able to configure the DHCP options. The wizard will ask if we want to do this now; we do, so check “Yes, I want to configure these options now”. Click “Next”.

Step 4: Configuring the settings of the scope

• Router: Specify the IP address of the router (the default gateway) here. Click “Add”, and then click “Next”.
• DNS servers: You can specify the DNS servers that will be used here, as well as the search domain. Windows calls search domains “parent domains”. When you add a DNS server that does not work according to Windows, it will warn you; make sure to specify a valid DNS server.
• WINS servers: You probably do not want to use this, so just skip it by clicking “Next”.
• Activate scope: When a scope is not activated, it will not be able to assign IP addresses, so make sure to check “Yes, I want to activate this scope now”. Click “Next”.

Click “Finish”. Congratulations! You have just added a scope! In order to add multiple scopes, just repeat the steps above.

You now have a fully functional DHCP server.

Conclusively

Setting up a DHCP server provides you with an easy way of assigning IP addresses to workstations on your network. This article shows you how to install and configure a DHCP Server and how to avoid overlapping scopes.

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