All clients and servers need an IP address on a TCP/IP network. How will you configure those dotty dot numbers on your TCP/IP property tabs? Manually, or automatically via DHCP?
Let us investigate what advantages an automatic DHCP service has over the manual
alternative.
DHCP needs much less effort - manual configuration is boring and labour
intensive. Above all, DHCP options give a sense of central control.
Easy to update a default gateway or DNS server's IP address. Manual
changes would be a nightmare, you would have to visit every machine.
No IP duplicate addresses. Provided you configure the DHCP scopes
intelligently, there will never be another 'Duplicate IP address' problem to
eat into your valuable time.
10 years ago, when I first saw DHCP, I thought that you would need one DHCP server
on each subnet - wrong. What I now recommend as a default, is two DHCP servers for the
whole company. For those subnets without a DHCP you configure a DHCP Relay
Agent.
If you have two DHCP servers, then provide redundancy by splitting each
scope so that each DHCP server gets a non-overlapping range. For example:
Server A: 10.10.56.1 to 10.10.56.120 Server B: 10.10.56.121 to 10.10.56.254.
Each scope has a class C Subnet Mask /24 (255.255.255.0)
Guy Recommends: A Free Trial of the Network Performance Monitor
(NPM)
Solarwinds'
Orion performance monitor
will help you discover what's happening on your network. This
utility will also guide you through troubleshooting; the dashboard will
indicate whether the root cause is a broken link, faulty equipment or
resource overload.
Perhaps the NPM's best feature is the way it suggests solutions to network
problems. Its
second best feature is the ability to monitor the health of individual VMWare
virtual machines. If you are interested in troubleshooting, and creating network maps, then I recommend that you take advantage of Solarwinds' offer.
What are you going to do about the IP addresses for the servers themselves?
Configure static IP addresses, then EXCLUDE a range from the scope.
Select static IP addresses, but use a different range.
Choose DHCP configuration, even for file and print servers. (Except the
DHCP server itself.)
If you try the strategy of DHCP address for file and print servers, consider a RESERVATION for each server. Slowly
I am warming to this DHCP idea, the killer advantage is that you can set DNS
and Router options even for the servers. Let me elaborate, if you set
server IP addresses manually, but then you change the default gateway, you may
forget to change the servers default gateway. The result would be a loss
of what ever service the servers were providing. However, if the servers
have a reserved IP address then they come under the umbrella of your scope
options and so there would be no extra work, and no loss of service.
Guy's Challenge - Download
this free device backup utility
(CatTools)
CatTools is a free program for backing up configuration settings on
hardware devices. Here is Guy's challenge. If you
download CatTools, then it will not only take care of backups, but
also it will show you something new about the hardware on you
network. I could give you a money back guarantee - but CatTools is
already free! Thus, I just make a techie to techie challenge, you
will learn more about your network if you:
DHCP is now a well established strategy for providing computers with IP
addresses. However, it is full of surprises and
hidden treasures, take the time to develop your DHCP tactics, then explore the properties of both the DHCP
server icon and the scopes. I have a series of tutorials to help you.
If you like this page then please share it with your friends
Guy Recommends: Orion's NPM - Network Performance Monitor
Orion's performance monitor is designed for detecting network outages. NPM makes it easy to see what's working, and what needs your attention.
This utility guides you through creating network maps. It also helps troubleshooting by indicating whether the root cause is faulty equipment, or resource overload.
