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DHCP in Windows 2000

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PCQ Bureau
New Update

An IP address is the most important component of the TCP/IP protocol because it is used to identify a computer and communicate. Every computer must have a unique IP address and subnet mask on a network. If it’s a small network, you can assign an IP address to each machine yourself.

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However, on a large network, managing IP addresses can become a nightmare. It’s better to leave this task to the DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server. Windows 2000 comes with one, and here we’ll tell you how to configure it. Your Windows 2000 server must have a static IP address for the DHCP server to

work.

To check where a DHCP server is already installed, go to Start>Administrative Tools and see whether it’s in the listing. Else, run the Configure Your Server Applet, choose Networking, and finally DHCP. Once installed, it will open up in Microsoft Management Console. Now you need to create a scope for your network, which is a range of IP addresses that the DHCP server will use to assign to the clients on your network.

To define scope, right click the server name and select New Scope from the context menu. In the New Scope Wizard, enter a Starting and an Ending IP address for your network. Now right-click the server name and click on Authorize to start the DHCP server. Remember, you can’t run more than one DHCP server on the same network segment, else they’d interfere with each other’s operation.

On the client end, go to the TCP/IP settings from the network properties, and change to ‘obtain IP address automatically’

option.

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