DHCP for Windows 2000

Summary

In this chapter, I covered the Microsoft DHCP clients, including brief overviews of each of the operating systems the DHCP client is from.

Windows 2000 Professional includes an improved DHCP client with support for additional DHCP options, such as the Perform Router Discovery (31) and Static Route (33) Options. Windows 2000 also includes Automatic Private IP Addressing (APIPA), which automatically assigns the workstation an IP address in the event that the workstation could not contact a DHCP server. The IPCONFIG utility in Windows 2000 is used to maintain and configure the DHCP client. It includes some new functions relating to the tight integration between DHCP and DNS in Windows 2000.

Windows NT Workstation 4.0 also includes a DHCP client with support for many basic DHCP options. Like Windows 2000, the IPCONFIG utility is used to maintain and configure the DHCP client.

Windows 9x, which includes Windows 95 and Windows 98, includes a DHCP client as well. It uses a graphical interface called WINIPCFG to maintain and configure the DHCP client.

Windows for Workgroups, while nowhere near as dominant as it once was, can still be found in some older networks. It did not ship with a DHCP client, but the client can be obtained from the Windows NT Server CD-ROM or the Microsoft web site. It includes basic DHCP functionality.

Finally, MS-DOS was the last DHCP client discussed. Again, like Windows for Workgroups, MS-DOS does not include DHCP support. A DHCP client can be obtained from ...