Chapter 6 - Managing DHCP Servers

Abstract

Windows 2000 provides an easy way to manage IP address assignment via the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) manager. Additionally, Windows 2000 provides added support for superscopes and multicast scopes. Using the wizards provided, any of the following three types of scopes can be created: scope, superscope, and multicast scope. A scope is a range of IP addresses that can be assigned to DHCP clients. A superscope allows scopes to be grouped to provide IP addresses from multiple logical subnets to clients on a single physical network. A multicast scope provides support for Multicast DHCP. Additional DHCP servers can be added to the DHCP manager and managed remotely. To configure a scope on any of the DHCP servers, first one needs to start the New Scope Wizard. To create a scope, one has to start the New Scope Wizard, which will walk through the steps to create the scope. First, one needs to provide a name and description to identify the scope. Next, one has to provide a range of addresses from which clients will be assigned an IP address. To create a superscope, the New Superscope Wizard needs to be started. After providing a name to identify the superscope, one has to select from a list of available scopes to add to the superscope. Creating a new multicast scope is much like creating a regular scope. After their creation, the scopes appear in the DHCP snap-in, and one's server will be ready to respond to client DHCP requests.