ipLease™ DHCP Server Configurator

For Basic Networks

[JavaScript] Copyright (c) 2004, Billiter Consultants. All rights reserved.
This configuration utility will generate the contents of the two control files needed to run ipLease DHCP Server for a basic IP network topology. After you unpack the ipLease distribution into its directory, just follow these seven easy steps and your ipLease Server will be offering leases to the DHCP client machines on your network in minutes.
[ If you just downloaded the ipLease distribution files and have not yet read our ReadMe file, simply do the following to unpack the ipLease distribution. Make a directory (folder) called \dhcpsvr on the drive and machine that will be home to ipLease DHCP Server. Copy the distribution file, iplease.exe, to that directory, and run iplease -d from the Windows Command Prompt or from the Start...Run dialog. ]

Step 1 - Can I use this utility to configure my ipLease DHCP Server?

You are configuring what we call a basic network if 1) the DHCP server provides leases to only one IP network, and 2) the ipLease DHCP Server resides on that network. If your configuration meets these requirements, proceed to Step 2. Otherwise, please follow the instructions in the documentation supplied with your ipLease software distribution. (It describes how to configure ipLease to support multiple IP networks.)

Step 2 - IP network information for the basic configuration:

[ General notes. 1) You may start again anytime in the procedure by simply refreshing this page in your Web browser. 2) Use the buttons below to signal that you have entered data, rather than pressing the Enter key. Some browsers may refresh the page at an unwelcome point if you use the Enter key. ]

Step 2 Advisory

Step 2a - What is the network mask? (Often called the subnet mask.) Most commonly used is 255.255.255.0 (/24). Next most common is 255.255.0.0 (/16).
Other masks are sometimes used and they are specified by their CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing) designations, which use a /xx notation to denote the number of leading 1 bits in the 32 bit network mask.
Network mask:
Step 2b - What is the IP address of the ipLease DHCP Server?
Use dotted decimal form to enter the address, like '192.168.1.45' (without the quotes). This entry and the network mask will determine the network for which DHCP leases will be served.
Server IP address:
Step 2c - Now click: and then refer to Step 2's advisory panel above.

Step 3 - Define the IP addresses on this network that ipLease DHCP Server will offer (lease) to your DHCP client machines:

Step 3 Advisory

Step 3a - Add one or more ranges of IP addresses to lease.
Use dotted decimal form to enter the starting address, like '192.168.1.2' (without the quotes). Then enter the quantity of IP addresses in this range. Example: 192.168.1.2 for 12 will add leases with IP addresses from 192.168.1.2 through 192.168.1.13 to the DHCP server's data base.
[Note 1: You must add at least one range. Note 2: These IP addresses will be treated as includes to the server's data base. You will be able to exclude addresses, perhaps those of servers, in another step. Note 3: If you intend to use static leases, those IP addresses with permanent associations to individual client machines, you must add their IP addresses here. You will identify any static associations below.]
Starting IP address: for addresses.
Now click and then refer to Step 3's advisory panel above.
Step 3b - Now choose:

or and refer to Step 3's advisory panel above.

Step 4 - Define IP addresses on this network to exclude from leasing:

If the IP address ranges that you defined for leases in Step 3 included any special addresses (like servers) that should be excluded, you may define those addresses here. If you have none to exclude, simply click 'No More Excludes' in Step 4b now."

Step 4 Advisory

Step 4a - Add one or more ranges of IP addresses to exclude.
Use dotted decimal form to enter the starting address, like '192.168.1.45' (without the quotes). Then enter the quantity of IP addresses in this range. Example: 192.168.1.45 for 1 will exclude one address, 192.168.1.45, from the DHCP server's data base.
[Note 1: You need not exclude any ranges. Note 2: These IP addresses will be treated as excludes from the DHCP server's data base. Excluding addresses which were not included in Step 3 will have no effect.]
Starting IP address: for addresses.
Now click and then refer to Step 4's advisory panel above.
Step 4b - Now choose:

or and refer to Step 4's advisory panel above.

Step 5 - Define options that ipLease DHCP Server will offer to DHCP client machines on this network:

When a DHCP client obtains an IP address from ipLease DHCP Server, the client also needs to know how long it may use the address (the lease duration) and perhaps a few other configuration parameters (like the IP address of the network's router) before the client can begin using the network. The server communicates these values to the DHCP client machines using options. Dozens of option types are available, and you may specify a few of the more common types in this step. The lease duration is mandatory, but the others, like domain name, are not required. Options that you define here will be sent to all the DHCP clients on the network.

Step 5 Advisory

Step 5a - Now specify the network lease duration. (Required)
Around two or three hours is recommended if your network has notebook computers which may often connect to other networks. Otherwise ten hours is a commonly used value.
Hours: Minutes:
Now click and refer to Step 5's advisory panel above.
Step 5b - Now specify options for DHCP clients (Optional) or skip to Step 6.
Leave blank any you wish to omit. Click 'Add These Options' when you finish entering all those you wish to include in the ipLease DHCP Server's data base. Skip to Step 6 if you have no options to add.

Router (gateway): Enter one dotted decimal IP address, like '192.168.1.1' (without quotes).

Domain Name: Enter a character string, like 'xyz.com' (without quotes).

Name Server (DNS): Enter one dotted decimal IP address, like '192.168.1.1' (without quotes).

Now click and refer to Step 5's advisory panel above.

Step 6 - Per-Host definitions:

If you have no per-host definitions, just click the 'No More Hosts' button at Step 6b below and continue at Step 7.

Per-host (per-client, per-machine) definitions are used for three purposes. 1) to specify a static lease - a permanent association of a DHCP client with an IP address; 2) to override network-wide options (like lease duration) for a particular client; and 3) to add options particular to a machine, like HostName. [Here we consider #2 a procedure beyond basic networks: you may only specify statics and host names with this configurator.]

The ipLease DHCP Server knows a particular client by either its MAC (hardware, Media Access Control) address or by its ClientID. The MAC address might be an Ethernet or Token Ring address. For Ethernet the MAC address is a 6-byte hexadecimal number, like 0080C8D97ED8. The client's network settings will show its MAC address, or you can find it by running utilities like arp, ipconfig, or winipcfg on the client host.

ClientID may be any hexadecimal string configured on the DHCP client. It is often invisible to the client's operator. But it is also often automatically generated by the client's network software by prefixing the MAC address with the network type. Ethernet is network type 01, so an automatically generated ClientID might be 010080C8D97ED8.

[Note1: if you configure a host name for a DHCP client, please know that even though ipLease may send it to the client, it is frequently ignored and the client may use a host name of its own, like its NETBIOS name. Note 2: hexadecimal entries below are not case-sensitive: 0080C8D97ED8 is the same as 0080c8d97ed8. Note 3: you must enter a MAC address OR a ClientID (and not both). Note 4: to make a static lease, simply enter the IP address to be permanently associated with the host. You must insure that the IP address was added in Step 3 and NOT excluded in Step 4.]

Step 6 Advisory

Step 6a - Add one or more client hosts to the configuration.
MAC (hardware) adddress: (hexadecimal string) OR
ClientID: (hexadecimal string OR character string)

Static IP address: (dotted decimal IP address)
Host Name: (character string)

Now click and then refer to Step 6's advisory panel above.
Step 6b - Now choose:

or and refer to Step 6's advisory panel above.

Step 7 - Control file generation:

Now you need only click the 'Generate' button one time in Step 7a and the content of ipLease DHCP Server's two control files will appear in the panels below.
Step 7a - Click the 'Generate' button once: and note below that both Result panels are populated and contain no errors. Then continue at Step 7b.

Result - Leases Data Base Source File:

Step 7b - Now use your Windows Edit...Copy...Paste functions to select the entire contents of the Leases Data Base File panel (just above), copy it, and then paste the contents to a blank text file in Notepad (or your favorite text editor). Then save the text file to \dhcpsvr\gen\leases1.src on the machine and drive where you installed ipLease DHCP Server.

To complete the data base generation, bring up the Windows Command Prompt and change to that directory (folder): \dhcpsvr\gen. Then type dhcpgen leases1, press enter and observe that ipLease's Data Base was created successfully. Leave the Command Prompt runnng for convenience in the next step.

Continue now at Step 7c below to get ipLease DHCP Server running.

Result - Server Initialization File:

Step 7c - Now use your Windows Edit...Copy...Paste functions to select the entire contents of the Server Initialization File panel (just above), copy it, and then paste the contents to a blank text file in Notepad (or your favorite text editor). Then save the text file to \dhcpsvr\svr\dhcpsvr.ini on the machine and drive where you installed ipLease DHCP Server.

To start ipLease DHCP server:

1) Log to the server's working directory: in the Command Prompt type cd \dhcpsvr\svr and press enter.

2) Copy the data base files from the generation directory: type copy ..\gen\leases1.* and press enter.

3) Start ipLease DHCP Server: type dhcpsvr and press enter. You should now see ipLease's DOT234 icon in the system tray. Right-click the icon, choose 'Restore ipLease', and observe that the server's status is Running.

That is all. We hope that you found this configurator helpful, and we would be grateful for any comments or criticism, positive or negative. Click the 'comments to author' just below to e-mail us. Thank you for using ipLease DHCP Server Configurator for Basic Networks.

Cordially, Billiter Consultants
E-mail comments to author --- Back to ipLease Home Page