Score:-1

How does a client find the DHCP server on network if DHCP is disabled on the router?

uy flag

I am an acting, self-taught network administrator, so please excuse me if this should be obvious. I have a Windows network with domain controllers running DHCP. My gateway/router is a Meraki MX67 that is also running DHCP. I want to disable the DHCP server on the router so that DHCP is handled by my domain controllers. If I do this, how do my clients find the DHCP server on the network when the IP address settings are set to "Obtain an IP address automatically"? In the IP V4 properties of my adapter I have manually set the DNS server address(s) to my domain controllers, which are also my DHCP servers.

vidarlo avatar
ar flag
Have you read up on how DHCP works on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol)? That should explain it fairly well: it's a broadcast based protocol.
djdomi avatar
za flag
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Score:3
cv flag

How do my clients find the DHCP server on the network when the IP address settings are set to "Obtain an IP address automatically"?

DHCP clients will broadcast on the local network to find a DHCP server.

You can configure your DHCP server/scope options to assign the correct DNS servers to the DHCP clients rather than configure them manually.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic_Host_Configuration_Protocol

Score:1
cn flag

If I do this, how do my clients find the DHCP server on the network when the IP address settings are set to "Obtain an IP address automatically"?

The same way they find it if DHCP is enabled on the router. They send a broadcast to the local network for ANY DHCP server to respond.

Read up on the documentation for the basics how DHCP works. This question is EXTREMELY basic for Serverfault - we generally do not do "read the manual for me" style simple things. You better know the inside out of DHCP - including how to block DHCP on the switches, so that you do not end up with possibly "unauthorized" DHCP servers answering and taking Workstations offline (which happened to IBM - people playing around, killing whole offices IP assignments). You can block this (quite easy on the switch), but you better know the basics how DHCP works for this.

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