6/25/14
NT1330
Unit 1. Assignment 1. Windows 2008 Network Services When is it worth setting up a DHCP server for your office and how many computers would you say is the minimum amount that really justifies the work of setting up the server? Let’s first explore what DHCP is so we can understand what it does and can accurately answer the question at hand. DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol and provides a mechanism for conveniently assigning network addresses and other network configuration parameters to a system upon request, usually when it is first bootstrapped or attached to the network. This is what allows you to manage the IP address of any given computer on your network from one location. Being that we ran out of addresses for IPv4 and are now basically only using borrowed addresses Maintaining the IP address for a network individually would be a huge chore for any network professional. Thankfully DHCP was invented making our job a little easier. Now the question is when is it worth setting up a DHCP server? In my opinion that would be, with anything larger than 2 computers. I am going to want to be able to manage the computers on my network from one location, my location. I am not going to want to have to get up from my desk, interrupting my current task to configure your IP address while making sure the IP address I am assigning isn’t a duplicate. This basically comes down to how much work you want to do as a network manager. Do you want to continually update and configure computers, at each individual desk, every time their IP address is released, or anytime you need to add computers to your office, or do you want to be able to do it from the comfort of your own computer? For me, I would be ok with 2 computers to maintain but any more then that and I am going to want the DHCP server set up.