Defining DHCP Scopes

A DHCP scope is an administrative grouping of computers running the DHCP Client service. You create a scope for each subnet on the network to define parameters for that subnet.

Each scope has the following properties:

• A unique subnet mask used to determine the subnet related to a given IP address
• A scope name assigned by the administrator when the scope is created
• Lease duration values to be assigned to DHCP clients with dynamic addresses

Each subnet can have only one scope with a single continuous range of IP addresses; those addresses must be valid for the subnet. To implement several address ranges in a subnet, create a continuous range that encompasses them all, and then exclude the addresses between the intended ranges. The range can be expanded later if you need more addresses.