How to cluster DHCP

Hi everyone,

We are running a Windows 2003 domain and we have two DHCP servers. Anyone
know the pros and cons of clustering DHCP? Can you point me to any white
papers that provide a step-by-step "how-to"? We do have an EMC SAN on our
network too.


TIA,


Clayton

It doesn't make sense to use clustering when you can simply use two servers
and split the zone over both servers which is much less expensive.

--
Todd J Heron, MVP Windows Server - Networking
MCSE - Windows Server 2003/2000/NT; CCA


"Clayton Sutton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi everyone,
>
> We are running a Windows 2003 domain and we have two DHCP servers. Anyone
> know the pros and cons of clustering DHCP? Can you point me to any white
> papers that provide a step-by-step "how-to"? We do have an EMC SAN on our
> network too.
>
>
> TIA,
>
>
> Clayton
>

Hey Todd,

The problem we have is the 95% of our addresses given out are by reservation
ONLY! So spliting the DHCP wont work for us that's way we were looking at
clustering.


Clayton



"Todd J Heron [MVP]" <todd_heron(delete)@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> It doesn't make sense to use clustering when you can simply use two
> servers and split the zone over both servers which is much less expensive.
>
> --
> Todd J Heron, MVP Windows Server - Networking
> MCSE - Windows Server 2003/2000/NT; CCA
>
>
> "Clayton Sutton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> We are running a Windows 2003 domain and we have two DHCP servers.
>> Anyone know the pros and cons of clustering DHCP? Can you point me to
>> any white papers that provide a step-by-step "how-to"? We do have an EMC
>> SAN on our network too.
>>
>>
>> TIA,
>>
>>
>> Clayton
>>
>

Hmmm...pros and cons, huh? Some of each...you can achieve greater
availability over a stand-alone DHCP Server by splitting scopes between two
stand-alone DHCP servers. Clustering the DHCP servers and doing the same
gives you more complexity but higher fault-tolerance...

If you want a "How-To", here it is - an awesome checklist for this...

Checklist: Installing a DHCP Service resource
http://technet2.microsoft.com/Window...24ca71033.mspx

Hope this helps,
--Ryan

--
Ryan Sokolowski
MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
MCSE, CCNA, CCDA, BCFP
Clustering101.com - Coming Soon!

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Clayton Sutton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi everyone,
>
> We are running a Windows 2003 domain and we have two DHCP servers. Anyone
> know the pros and cons of clustering DHCP? Can you point me to any white
> papers that provide a step-by-step "how-to"? We do have an EMC SAN on our
> network too.
>
>
> TIA,
>
>
> Clayton
>

Hmmm...pros and cons, huh? Some of each...you can achieve greater
availability over a stand-alone DHCP Server by splitting scopes between two
stand-alone DHCP servers. Clustering the DHCP servers and doing the same
gives you more complexity but higher fault-tolerance...

If you want a "How-To", here it is - an awesome checklist for this...

Checklist: Installing a DHCP Service resource
http://technet2.microsoft.com/Window...24ca71033.mspx

Hope this helps,
--Ryan

--
Ryan Sokolowski
MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
MCSE, CCNA, CCDA, BCFP
Clustering101.com - Coming Soon!

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

"Clayton Sutton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi everyone,
>
> We are running a Windows 2003 domain and we have two DHCP servers. Anyone
> know the pros and cons of clustering DHCP? Can you point me to any white
> papers that provide a step-by-step "how-to"? We do have an EMC SAN on our
> network too.
>
>
> TIA,
>
>
> Clayton
>

Why it will not work? Just define the ip reservations on both dhcp servers.


--
Regards,
Andrei Ungureanu
www.eventid.net
Test our new EventReader!
http://www.altairtech.ca/eventreader...lt2.asp?ref=au


"Clayton Sutton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hey Todd,
>
> The problem we have is the 95% of our addresses given out are by
> reservation ONLY! So spliting the DHCP wont work for us that's way we
> were looking at clustering.
>
>
> Clayton
>
>
>
> "Todd J Heron [MVP]" <todd_heron(delete)@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> It doesn't make sense to use clustering when you can simply use two
>> servers and split the zone over both servers which is much less
>> expensive.
>>
>> --
>> Todd J Heron, MVP Windows Server - Networking
>> MCSE - Windows Server 2003/2000/NT; CCA
>>
>>
>> "Clayton Sutton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> Hi everyone,
>>>
>>> We are running a Windows 2003 domain and we have two DHCP servers.
>>> Anyone know the pros and cons of clustering DHCP? Can you point me to
>>> any white papers that provide a step-by-step "how-to"? We do have an
>>> EMC SAN on our network too.
>>>
>>>
>>> TIA,
>>>
>>>
>>> Clayton
>>>
>>
>
>

If you are worried about DHCP reservations just make sure that you backup
your dhcp servers regulari. Than in case of failure you always can transfer
the backup to another server.
Clustering is hardware expensive enough to justify DHCP service, in my
opinion.


--
Best Regards
Systems Administrator
MCSA + Exchange



"Clayton Sutton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi everyone,
>
> We are running a Windows 2003 domain and we have two DHCP servers. Anyone
> know the pros and cons of clustering DHCP? Can you point me to any white
> papers that provide a step-by-step "how-to"? We do have an EMC SAN on our
> network too.
>
>
> TIA,
>
>
> Clayton
>

"Clayton Sutton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:%(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hey Todd,
>
> The problem we have is the 95% of our addresses given out are by
> reservation ONLY! So spliting the DHCP wont work for us that's way we
> were looking at clustering.
>

There is nothing wrong with clustering, but when
95% of the addresses are given out by RESERVATION
you do not have the usual problem of trying to synchronize
the majority of the leases -- only %5 are at issue.

Reservations can be duplicated fairly easily in most
cases to multiple servers -- as long as they are identical
it's not an issue since one DHCP server or the other
will never be able to create a conflict for such machines.

But setting up a Server Cluster is fine if you don't want
to manually duplicate all that (tedious if it's large) or
move the files (difficult to keep up to date if you make
changes still.)


--
Herb Martin, MCSE, MVP
Accelerated MCSE
http://www.LearnQuick.Com
[phone number on web site]

>
> Clayton
>
>
>
> "Todd J Heron [MVP]" <todd_heron(delete)@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> It doesn't make sense to use clustering when you can simply use two
>> servers and split the zone over both servers which is much less
>> expensive.
>>
>> --
>> Todd J Heron, MVP Windows Server - Networking
>> MCSE - Windows Server 2003/2000/NT; CCA
>>
>>
>> "Clayton Sutton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>> Hi everyone,
>>>
>>> We are running a Windows 2003 domain and we have two DHCP servers.
>>> Anyone know the pros and cons of clustering DHCP? Can you point me to
>>> any white papers that provide a step-by-step "how-to"? We do have an
>>> EMC SAN on our network too.
>>>
>>>
>>> TIA,
>>>
>>>
>>> Clayton
>>>
>>
>
>

We don't want to split the scoops across two servers because there is too
much manual updating that will have to be done to keep both servers in sync.
We are a small Div. II University with over 2000 workstations. There is too
much room for human error. And we don't what to have to manually bring the
second server online if the first one goes down.

We have an EMC CX500 SAN already. The university is willing to buy HBA
cards for the two servers and willing to buy the upgrade to Windows 2003
Enterprise Edition.

If anyone else has any other ideas please let me know. I'm not bent on
clustering, I just want to find the best solution for our environment that
does not involve human intervention.


Clayton



"Clayton Sutton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi everyone,
>
> We are running a Windows 2003 domain and we have two DHCP servers. Anyone
> know the pros and cons of clustering DHCP? Can you point me to any white
> papers that provide a step-by-step "how-to"? We do have an EMC SAN on our
> network too.
>
>
> TIA,
>
>
> Clayton
>

Thanks Ryan,

I will take a look at it tomorrow.


Clayton



"Ryan Sokolowski [MVP]" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hmmm...pros and cons, huh? Some of each...you can achieve greater
> availability over a stand-alone DHCP Server by splitting scopes between
> two stand-alone DHCP servers. Clustering the DHCP servers and doing the
> same gives you more complexity but higher fault-tolerance...
>
> If you want a "How-To", here it is - an awesome checklist for this...
>
> Checklist: Installing a DHCP Service resource
> http://technet2.microsoft.com/Window...24ca71033.mspx
>
> Hope this helps,
> --Ryan
>
> --
> Ryan Sokolowski
> MVP - Windows Server - Clustering
> MCSE, CCNA, CCDA, BCFP
> Clustering101.com - Coming Soon!
>
> This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
> rights.
>
> "Clayton Sutton" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> We are running a Windows 2003 domain and we have two DHCP servers.
>> Anyone know the pros and cons of clustering DHCP? Can you point me to
>> any white papers that provide a step-by-step "how-to"? We do have an EMC
>> SAN on our network too.
>>
>>
>> TIA,
>>
>>
>> Clayton
>>
>