Using DHCP with WINS

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When using DHCP and WINS together on your network, consider using additional DHCP scope options to assign WINS node types and to identify WINS primary and secondary servers for DHCP clients. Adjust the options for each physical subnet where DHCP and WINS are implemented on your network.

Assign lease durations of comparable length for both DHCP and WINS. If lease lengths for WINS and DHCP differ widely, the effect on network service is an overall increase in lease management traffic for both services. This is significant only if you do not use the default lease lengths for both services, and lease durations have been changed for either DHCP or WINS individually.

Create DHCP Reservations for Windows 2000 Hosts

Statically mapped Windows 2000–based computers can be problematic when these computers are not periodically stopped and restarted and their initial registration record in WINS becomes damaged. You can have a more reliable and more manageable network by creating DHCP reservations for Windows 2000–based computers. Configure Windows 2000–based domain controllers and domain member servers as DHCP clients with reserved TCP/IP addresses.

You can enter a DHCP reservation at the DHCP server using the media access control address of the network adapter installed in the computer. This reservation ensures that the Windows 2000–based computer gets the same IP address from the DHCP server each time it starts on the network. You can renew WINS registrations for a DHCP client by typing ipconfig /renew at a command prompt or by restarting the computer; either procedure corrects the offending WINS registration record.

Configure WINS-Reliant Computers for Fault Tolerance

For fault tolerance in the case of link failure, configure computers that depend on the WINS service located on other subnets as follows. For their primary WINS server, these clients should point to a local WINS server. For their secondary WINS server, these clients should point to the secondary WINS hub. Computers running Windows 95 or Windows NT Workstation send a directed message to the secondary WINS server when the primary WINS server does not contain the requested NetBIOS name. Ideally, this secondary WINS server is located in a separate building and on a separate power grid from the primary WINS server.