Query: DHCP Server and leased IP addresses / MS Private IP

[Colin Barker]

All,

This is a quick query to really find out if anyone else has heard,
discovered, or done things differently with their setup.

The way our network works is that we have a DHCP server assigning all
the computers in SurreyCC a 10.*.*.* address. All works perfectly fine,
however there is the odd occasion where the DHCP server crashes over the
weekend or overnight, and users coming back in the next day will gain
the Microsoft Privatly Assigned IP address rather than using the DHCP
assigned IP address (if it is still within its lease).

Microsoft has an article about this here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;255836

This explains the reasoning why DHCP behavoir changed between OS's and
why they get the private IP rather than using the DHCP assigned address.

Now the query is, has anyone else had this problem before and what were
your fixes? -- I am tempted myself to amend the registary, because to be
honest we do not need the privatly assigned one, and I was going to test
it out on a few workstations. However my team leader has set me on the
task of seeing, are there any alternatives which any of you have tried,
not tried or have any other ideas?

Thanks and I hope to hear from you soon

Colin Barker
Surrey County Council

 

[Jud]

All,

This is a quick query to really find out if anyone else has heard,
discovered, or done things differently with their setup.

The way our network works is that we have a DHCP server assigning all
the computers in SurreyCC a 10.*.*.* address. All works perfectly fine,
however there is the odd occasion where the DHCP server crashes over the
weekend or overnight, and users coming back in the next day will gain
the Microsoft Privatly Assigned IP address rather than using the DHCP
assigned IP address (if it is still within its lease).

Microsoft has an article about this here:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;255836

This explains the reasoning why DHCP behavoir changed between OS's and
why they get the private IP rather than using the DHCP assigned address.

Now the query is, has anyone else had this problem before and what were
your fixes? -- I am tempted myself to amend the registary, because to be
honest we do not need the privatly assigned one, and I was going to test
it out on a few workstations. However my team leader has set me on the
task of seeing, are there any alternatives which any of you have tried,
not tried or have any other ideas?

Thanks and I hope to hear from you soon

Colin Barker
Surrey County Council

Sort out your DHCP server so it doesn't crash as often as it does, and set
the lease time to longer than 24 hours, my machine uses DHCP for its address
from the IE server and the leases are set to one week, even with the server
off I can still connect to the other PC's on my workgroup.

Jud

 

[James McIllece [MS]]

Sort out your DHCP server so it doesn't crash as often as it does, and
set the lease time to longer than 24 hours, my machine uses DHCP for
its address from the IE server and the leases are set to one week,
even with the server off I can still connect to the other PC's on my
workgroup.

Jud

I agree with Jud's recommendation. Disabling APIPA won't solve your problem
-- if your clients are configured to use DHCP and they can't find a server,
it doesn't matter if APIPA is disabled or enabled. Besides, even when the
clients are using APIPA, they continue to broadcast DHCP Discover messages
every five minutes, so if you get your DHCP server up and running the
problem on the clients will resolve itself.

Another thing you might consider is adding another DHCP server and
splitting the scope so that 20% of the scope's IP addresses are leased by
one server and 80% by the other. More info on the 80/20 rule can be found
in this DHCP Help topic:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/
proddocs/en-
us/Default.asp?url=/resources/documentation/WindowsServ/2003/standard/prodd
ocs/en-us/sag_DHCP_imp_ConfigScopes.asp

--
James McIllece, Microsoft

Please do not send email directly to this alias. This is my online account
name for newsgroup participation only.

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.