Resources for IT Professionals

Configuring and Deploying DHCP with Windows Server 2003 (March 03, 2005)

Published: March 9, 2005

Please note:Portions of this transcript have been edited for clarity

Introduction

rebecca_ms (Moderator):
Thank you for joining today’s chat about configuring and deploying DHCP with Windows Server 2003. This is our third chat in the series. We are pleased to welcome our experts for today. I will have them introduce themselves now.

SakuraT [MSFT] (Expert):
Hi, I'm Sakura and I am a DHCP Client tester for Microsoft.

vamsi [MSFT] (Expert):
Hi, I am vamsi, I am a DHCP tester for Microsoft

Praveen [MSFT] (Expert):
Hi, I'm Praveen, I am a tester for DHCP in Microsoft

Tanu Mutreja [MSFT] (Expert):
Hi, I'm Tanu and I work for DHCP group of Windows Networking.

pankaj [ MSFT] (Expert):
Hi, This is Pankaj. Dev Lead DHCP at Microsoft

Anto[MSFT] (Expert):
I am A.J.Anto http://blogs.msdn.com/anto_rocks. I work as a developer in the DHCP server team at Microsoft.

Wai-O [Msft] (Expert):
Hi my name is Wai O and I am a tester for Dhcp Server at Microsoft

rebecca_ms (Moderator):
…and your pleasant host, Rebecca. We will try to answer as many questions as we can today.

Start of Chat

Praveen [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Can you tell me if I can cluster DHCP Servers?
A: http://technet2.microsoft.com/windowsserver/en/library/e3d396dd-c141-432b-9e69-50f597061e471033.mspx?mfr=true

Praveen [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Can Microsoft DHCP Server be configured to display addresses consumed by 3rd part VPN servers separetely as it does for Microsoft Remote Access Server?
A: DHCP server is client agnostic - in that it can accept requests from any DHCP Clients including 3rd party VPN servers. So, when the 3rd party VPN Server requests an address, it will be in the database as all other requests.

Anto[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Can Microsoft DHCP Server be configured to display addresses consumed by 3rd part VPN servers separetely as it does for Microsoft Remote Access Server?
A: I believe it will not display it differently. It depends on the user class the RRAS server puts into the DHCP packet. In the case of Microsoft VPN server, it puts in the user class as "Default RRAS clients". That makes the DHCP server to identify the IP addresses given to MS VPN server separately.

Anto[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: If i have two servers serving the same subnet, do we need to replicate reservations on both of the servers?
A: Yup.

Anto[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: can i remotely see the perf counters exported by the DHCP server?
A: yes you can.

Anto[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: can i remotely see the perf counters exported by the DHCP server?
A: you can type perfmon on your run window and select the remote machine you want to monitor. Then you can choose the object you want to monitor. In this case it is the DHCP server. Then you can select the counters which you want to look..

pankaj [ MSFT] (Expert):
Q: For small network, do you prefer an router as DHCP or Windows 2003?
A: You have much more control and future upgradability with Windows 2003 DHCP server as compared to a router. Also Windows 2003 server can serve BOOTP clients.

Tanu Mutreja [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: how do ii import the my dhcpserver to win2003. now i have it on NT4 which is getting bombarded with other database. I want to move it to Win2003 and update it again.. probably after 2 years.
A: You can use Dhcpexim.exe tool to export the database out of NT4 or W2K

Tanu Mutreja [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: how do ii import the my dhcpserver to win2003. now i have it on NT4 which is getting bombarded with other database. I want to move it to Win2003 and update it again.. probably after 2 years.
A: Then you can import the data to W2K3 from cmd line> netsh dhcp server import

Tanu Mutreja [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: how do ii import the my dhcpserver to win2003. now i have it on NT4 which is getting bombarded with other database. I want to move it to Win2003 and update it again.. probably after 2 years.
A: dhcpexim.exe tool comes part of resource kit. dhcpexim.exe is not supported in W2k3.

Tanu Mutreja [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: how do ii import the my dhcpserver to win2003. now i have it on NT4 which is getting bombarded with other database. I want to move it to Win2003 and update it again.. probably after 2 years.
A: you may also want to refer to following documents: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=e92cf6a0-76f0-4e25-8de0-19544062a6e6&DisplayLang=en

Tanu Mutreja [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: how do ii import the my dhcpserver to win2003. now i have it on NT4 which is getting bombarded with other database. I want to move it to Win2003 and update it again.. probably after 2 years.
A:http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=130642

Wai-O [Msft] (Expert):
Q: how do ii import the my dhcpserver to win2003. now i have it on NT4 which is getting bombarded with other database. I want to move it to Win2003 and update it again.. probably after 2 years.
A: In reference to this question: Here's the link to the KB article http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325473
that will walk you through the export/import process

rebecca_ms (Moderator):
We're experiencing a few delays...our hosts will get to your questions soon!

rebecca_ms (Moderator):
Feel free to ask questions, though, we have plenty of hosts on hand to answer them.

Praveen [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Why don't dhcp clients always update ptr and host records in DNS? Also, is there some documentation for the relationship between ddns and DHCP used in a non-default way. Our DHCP leases are 8 hours....scavenging is an issue.
A: Clients are usually configured to update the HOST (A) records while the server updates the PTR records.
Clients can also be configured to ask the Server to do them both.
Alternately, we can have the server update both PTR and A records.
I'll give you the link to the doc shortly...
For the specific issue of scavenging, here's the KB article
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;306780

vamsi [MSFT] (Expert):
You can find about the DNS interaction with DHCP at : http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/en/advanced/help/default.asp?url=/windows2000/en/advanced/help/sag_DHCP_imp_InteroperabilityDNS.htm

Anto[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: How can we get a list of all active leases in a text file for a given DHCP server?
A: Go to the Address leases of each scope in the DHCP snap-in and dump the leases to a text file from the DHCP server snap-in. The text file gives you all the information for every active lease. You might also want to query the DHCP server management API: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dhcp/dhcp/dhcpenumsubnetclients.asp.

pankaj [ MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will I be able to upgrade my dhcp server from win2003 server to longHorn os of msft?
A: Yes, you will be able to upgrade from Windows2003 DHCP server to Longhorn

Tanu Mutreja [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will I be able to upgrade my dhcp server from win2003 server to longHorn os of msft?
A: Yes, we can certainly expect that upgrade, but things will be clearer only when the Longhorn is released :-)

vamsi [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Thanks. We actually have it configured with the correct settings. I think the problem is that the lease is not the default of seven days. We have had to play with the scavenging periods because of this.
A: Default lease is 8 days. If the period is short scavenging work will be more.

Anto[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Thanks. We actually have it configured with the correct settings. I think the problem is that the lease is not the default of seven days. We have had to play with the scavenging periods because of this.
A: This link should help regarding DHCP-DNS interaction http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows2000/en/advanced/help/sag_dhcp_imp_InteroperabilityDNS.htm

Tanu Mutreja [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will it be easier to upgrade from NT to longHorn or windows2003 to longhorn?
A: Again, it will be clear only when Longhorn is released but you can expect both of these to be simple enough :-)

Wai-O [Msft] (Expert):
Do you folks have any feedback or suggestions on features you would like to see be added in future versions of Dhcp Server?

Anto[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Can we assign specific options to a particular set of clients? If so how can we do that?
A: u can absolutely do this.

Praveen [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: how to setup redundancy DHCP Server in Windows 2003 server to serve one subnet?
A: you can do that by using the 80/20 rule.

Anto[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Can we assign specific options to a particular set of clients? If so how can we do that?
A: first thing u should do is identify this 'group' of clients through user class to the DHCP server and configure options specifically for this user class on the DHCP console.

Praveen [MSFT] (Expert):
A: You can also use clusters to provide redundancy

Anto[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Can we assign specific options to a particular set of clients? If so how can we do that?
A: this might help: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/proddoc/default.mspx

Wai-O [Msft] (Expert):
Q: Thanks folks... u r cool :D
A: In response to : "Inferno: Wai-o, I would like to upgrade my dhcp server from my linux server to windows. I don't think I can do that now :-((((" The best approach would be export the config out of linux and modify it and netsh exec the settings into Windows 2003 server.

Anto[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: can i have server-level reservations on the DHCP server?
A: No. You always have reservations at the scope level so that this way the address you are giving to the clients are always appropriate to the link.

rebecca_ms (Moderator):
We will be wrapping up this chat in 15 minutes. Feel free to ask your DHCP-related questions of our experts. Simply type your questions, click “Submit a question,” and click “Send.” Those posts will go into a private queue, from which our experts will draft answers and repost questions in the upper window with their answers.

Praveen [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: is there a maximum number of clients that should be obtaining addresses by one DHCP server? How many subnets is acceptable?
A: Windows 2003 DHCP Server has no limits placed on the amount of addresses or on the number of scopes it can handle. Only limitation is the hardware (Memory, HardDisk, CPU).

Praveen [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: no suggested limits? Thanks. We were wondering about that.
A: yes

Praveen [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: no suggested limits? Thanks. We were wondering about that.
A: Yes. that is, the limitation comes from the hardware which runs the Windows 2003 DHCP Server

rebecca_ms (Moderator):
We will need to wrap up this chat in about 5 minutes. Please post any other questions (click “Submit a Question”) that you would like us to answer. Thanks.

Praveen [MSFT] (Expert):
How many of you here use Windows DHCP Server? Do you have any your pain points?

rebecca_ms (Moderator):
Thanks for joining us today. We are going to wrap up our chat now. For more information about DHCP, see:
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/enterprise/proddocs/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/enterprise/proddocs/en-us/sag_DHCPtopnode.asp

rebecca_ms (Moderator):
You can also find information about Best Practices at http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/enterprise/proddocs/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/enterprise/proddocs/en-us/sag_DHCP_imp_BestPractices.asp

rebecca_ms (Moderator):
I'd like to thank our hosts and you our guests for joining us today. Here is another link that you might find helpful: the icon reference for DHCP in Windows Server 2003: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/default.aspx

rebecca_ms (Moderator):
Here are some other helpful links - the Windows 2000 reference: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/reskit/cnet/cncb_dhc_klom.mspx

rebecca_ms (Moderator):
And the Netsh reference: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/proddocs/en-us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/proddocs/en-us/netsh_dhcp.asp
Finally, a link to the newsgroups, if you need more help:
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/default.aspx