Terra Flora has elected to use the Windows NT Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) to provide dynamic IP-addressing of the network computers.
Static configuration of client addresses can be expensive in terms of administrative effort and time. Currently, DHCP is the only open standard, which means it can interoperate with other operating systems. All other dynamic addressing products are proprietary.
Also, Terra Flora previously decided to standardize on the TCP/IP protocols with limited support for SNA protocol. The choice of DHCP helps keep the network administration costs down.
Other factors in the decision were Terra Flora's anticipated rate of corporate growth, the network requirements of traveling corporate personnel, and the requirements of the Internet. By setting up a dynamic system for addressing, Terra Flora can more easily accomplish its business goals in these areas.
Several tasks need to be accomplished to set up DHCP services for Terra Flora.
First, the servers that will become the DHCP servers need to be set up with static server addresses and then the DHCP Service must be installed on those servers.
Second, all the servers with DHCP enabled must be added to the DHCP Manager server list so that they can be administered.
Third, DHCP Scopes must be defined. This further involves establishing ranges of leased addresses for each subnet and configuring the optional configuration settings for those leases.
Fourth, Terra Flora will use DHCP Manager to reserve some IP addresses on the network for certain computers and devices.
Fifth, Terra Flora will configure a DHCP Relay Agent.
Administrative costs are reduced when network IP addressing tasks are performed by the servers instead of the administrative personnel; who are then free to perform other tasks. For example, the administrative task such as setup and maintenance of manual IP address tables to indicate which computer has which IP address will eliminated along with the need for administrators to travel to the physical location of computers to input or change the IP addresses.
Windows NT Server 4.0 supports DHCP to provide dynamic network addressing to clients. Currently it is the only open standard which can interoperate with other operating systems other products are proprietary.