Overloaded DHCP Server Stops Functioning with Limited Queue Size

• Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0
• Microsoft Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition version 4.0

SYMPTOMS

When you are running the Microsoft Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server service on a computer running Windows NT 4.0, and your DHCP server experiences high network traffic levels, or the DHCP reservation database becomes too large, the DHCP service may not function properly and the computer may stop responding (hang).

CAUSE

This behavior can occur because there is no queue limit size in Windows NT 4.0 Server. When the DHCP server reaches a critical section timeout, the service stops responding to DHCP packets.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0. For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q152734 How to Obtain the Latest Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT 4.0. This problem was first corrected in Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 6.

Additional query words:

Keywords : kbinterop kbnetwork ntdomain ntsp kbbug4.00 kbfix4.00 NT4SP6Fix
Version : winnt:4.0
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug