Networking All-in-One For Dummies, 7th Edition

Chapter 4

Running DHCP and DNS

IN THIS CHAPTER

Dealing with DHCP

Running a DNS server

Understanding BIND configuration files

One of the main reasons why many network administrators add Linux servers to their networks is to run Internet services, such as DHCP and DNS. These services were originally developed for the Unix environment, so they tend to run better under Linux than they do under Windows.

Well, that’s the theory, at least. The most recent versions of Windows are probably just as good at running these services as Linux. Still, if you prefer to set up these services on a Linux server, this chapter is for you.

Running a DHCP Server

DHCP is the TCP/IP protocol that automatically assigns IP addresses to hosts as they come on the network. (DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, but that won’t be on the test.) For a very small network (say, fewer than ten hosts), you don’t really need DHCP: You can just configure each computer to have a static IP address. For larger networks, however, DHCP is almost a must. Without DHCP, you have to manually plan your entire IP address scheme and manually configure every computer with its IP information. Then, if a critical address ...