Microsoft Windows DHCP Team Blog

DHCP Failover using PowerShell

2012-12-19T06:46:00Z

DHCP failover allows administrators to ensure high availability of DHCP service by ensuring that in the event of a DHCP server going down, DHCP clients are able to extend the leases on their current IP addresses by communicating with another DHCP server on the enterprise network. The administrator can use either MMC or PowerShell for configuring and monitoring failover relationships. PowerShell users can use the following cmdlets for setting up and monitoring failover: Add–DhcpServerv4Failover...(read more)

Scalability Test Results for Windows Server 2012 DHCP Server

2012-12-16T04:22:00Z

Introduction This blog article provides data from tests conducted on server hardware (from different vendors and with different configurations) using Windows Server 2012 that depict how the different DHCP server operations scale with increasing hardware capacity. It can be used for guidance in assessing scalability of systems running Windows Server 2012 DHCP Server and choosing the appropriate hardware configuration for running the DHCP server based on the size of the deployment for a desired...(read more)

DHCP Policies using PowerShell

2012-12-14T19:16:00Z

The DHCP server role in Windows Server® 2012 introduces DHCP Policies also referred as Policy Based Assignment (PBA), a feature that enables users to create policies at scope or server level for assigning IPv4 addresses and options to DHCP clients based on attributes like Vendor Class, User Class, MAC Address etc. The DHCP Policies blog discusses various scenarios where policies can come in handy. Policies can be configured at server and scope levels using either DHCP server MMC or PowerShell...(read more)

DHCP PowerShell Export Import cmdlets in Windows Server 2012

2012-12-03T10:58:00Z

DHCP PowerShell in Windows Server 2012, in addition to providing cmdlets for DHCP server management, provides cmdlets for exporting ( Export-DhcpServer ) and importing ( Import-DhcpServer ) DHCP Server configuration and IP address lease data. Unlike NetSH.exe export/import functionality which uses binary file format for the exported data, these cmdlets are designed for human readability as well as modification of the exported data and hence provide the exported data in an XML file. Powershell...(read more)

Automatic syncing of scope configuration changes between 2 DHCP failover servers

2012-11-27T10:28:00Z

DHCP Failover is a new feature in Windows Server 2012 which provides for high availability of DHCP service. Two DHCP servers in a failover relationship synchronize the IP address lease information on a continual basis there by keeping their respective databases up-to-date with client information and in sync with each other. However, if the user makes any changes in any property/configuration (e.g. add/remove option values, reservation) of a failover scope, he/she needs to ensure that it is replicated...(read more)

Bulk load DHCP Reservations using DHCP PowerShell

2012-11-21T06:44:00Z

Many organizations deploy DHCP server but choose to have complete control over the IP addresses given out to client computers. This is achieved by reserving an IP address for each client as opposed to letting them acquire a lease dynamically. If you are an admin at one such organization, you could probably have a long list of reservations to configure on the DHCP server. Doing so manually one at a time is a pain staking and error prone activity. The mechanism shown below allows you to add all of...(read more)

DHCP MAC address Filter management made easy with DHCP PowerShell

2012-11-10T17:03:00Z

Security and network administrators are increasingly wary of internal security threats, in addition to threats from the outside, due to the introduction of uncertified hardware and software on the network, such as personal portable computers and mobile devices that can be potentially compromised and not compliant to the security practices of the organization. Link layer-based filtering for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) introduced in Windows Server 2008 R2 enables administrators to control...(read more)

DHCP policies based on Relay Agent Information Option (option 82), DHCP Snooping and IP Source Guard

2012-10-01T09:12:00Z

Introduction DHCP server in Windows Server 2012 provides support for provisioning customized IP address and network configurations to DHCP clients using DHCP policies. Policies can be created based on several criteria one of which is relay agent information option - commonly referred as option 82. To get a better understanding on DHCP server policies and how to configure a policy, please refer to this post . In this blog post, we will discuss how you can create and use DHCP policies based on relay...(read more)

Setting up DHCP Policies for Virtual Machines

2012-09-24T12:46:00Z

Introduction With the trend towards private cloud and hosted cloud deployments, the use of virtualization is ubiquitous. This has also increased the need for better control of these virtualized environments with respect to IP address and network configuration provisioning. DHCP policies , a new feature in DHCP server in Windows Server 2012, enables flexibility and granular control for the virtualization scenarios. A data center network employs virtualization for different workloads and applications...(read more)

Using DHCP policies to set different lease durations for different device types

2012-09-22T09:17:00Z

Introduction An enterprise network has several types of devices – desktops, printers, mobiles, laptops etc. An enterprise administrator would need to ensure that all these different types of device are provisioned appropriately for network connectivity. This requires that they have a valid IP address - either assigned statically or leased out by the DHCP server. An enterprise also has to deal with the scenario of employees bringing in their personal devices such as tablets or smartphones...(read more)