Assignment 1
Windows 2008 Network Services
Essam Nasreldin
It is worth setting up DHCP for two, five, or even twenty five computers as long as they have updated software to support it. Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol is very important protocol in networking because DHCP let network administrators manage centrally and automate the assignment of IP configurations on a computer network. The importance of DHCP is because when connected to a network every computer will be assigned a unique address which is the IP address so there is a need to automate the task. Now how does the DHCP works? The way DHCP works is that the DHCP server receives the request from the client and the DHCP server assigns a new address for a specific time period and sends it to the client together with the other required configuration information. DHCP server will not reallocate the address during this period and will attempt to return the same address every time the clients request an address. I would personally think that setting up DHCP for your computers is worth doing it just because it has its advantages over manual configuration. Some of the advantages include that each computer gets its configuration from a pool of available numbers automatically for a specific time period which means that there are no wasted numbers. The IP address is then released after the computer has finished with the address and it is then released for another computer to use. In contrast, manual configuration can be time consuming and might be prone to errors. In manual configuration, it requires the careful input of a subnet mask, unique IP address, Domain name Server Address, and default router address. Servers offer completely centralized management of all TCP/IP client configurations, including IP address and DNS address is another great thing about DHCP. Also, DHCP servers are easy to administer and can be set up in a minimal time.