DHCP Failover

DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2012 R2

====
DHCP - there's an 'interesting' subject. The older amongst us may remember what a godsend it used to be, after spending an age having to run about setting up IP addresses manually and the like. Anyone else remember that? Anyway, it's not something usually to get excited about. Managing it's availability is a subject that does come though. People have taken various routes including failover clusters (yes, really), to split scopes and all kinds of stuff.

Here's the thing - Windows Server 2012 has in-built capabilities to deal with failover and load-balancing, and they just make life easier. There's a decent TechNet article here that describes how it works.

Understand and Deploy DHCP Failover

Anyway, it's an absolute doddle to configure. The hardest part is often defining all the failover relationships if you have many sites. As per many things though, I think the best answer is to keep it as simple as possible. It'll make your life easier in the long run.

The video below shows a run through of configuring a basic load-balance DHCP config. Far better than split scopes and all that stuff…And way, way, waaaaay cheaper than setting up a failover cluster.

You're welcome.

blog comments powered by Disqus