DHCP: The server IPv4 address should be excluded from all scopes

Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012

This topic is intended to address a specific issue identified by a Best Practices Analyzer scan. You should apply the information in this topic only to computers that have had the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Best Practices Analyzer run against them and are experiencing the issue addressed by this topic. For more information about best practices and scans, see Best Practices Analyzer (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=122786).

Issue

There are conflicts between the bindings of the DHCP server and the IP address ranges of the scopes present on the server.

Impact

The DHCP server might lease its own static IP address to a client computer, leading to an IP address conflict and disruption of DHCP service.

Resolution

Use DHCP MMC to exclude the DHCP server IPv4 addresses from the scope.

To exclude IP address from a scope

1. Click Start, point to Administrative Tools and then click DHCP.

2. In the console tree, expand the applicable DHCP server, expand IPv4, and then expand the applicable scope

3. Right-click Address Pool, click New Exclusion Range…, type the IPv4 addresses to bind to, and then click Add.

Additional references

For updated detailed IT pro information about DHCP, see the Windows Server 2008 R2 documentation on the Microsoft TechNet Web site.