Hi all,I'm trying to transiton from W2k3 server to WS2008 and under the DHCP options in W2k3 i had the usage of Option 119 "DNS SEARCH List"When I installed WS2008 on a test box, and installed DHCP, I didn't find this option available...?What am I missing...?thx in advancemagellan

You should be able to add the option manually. I have had to do that for my PXEBoot option. It wasn't one of the standard choices and I entered it manually.Cheers,Laralforbes

Lara,I went back to the DHCP GUI, and I see "configure options" but no where do I have a place in which I CAN add a new settings or dhcp option...? I believe in W2k3 that were amble opportunity to ADD within the GUI, I just don't see it on W2k8 server...Would appreciate any further advise...thxmagellan

Hi Lara,I think the following article will answer your question. It states that you can't use DHCP to give a search list to the clients, although you might be able to use the 'netsh' command to add 119 to your DHCP server, although maybe not supported.http://support.microsoft.com/kb/275553

magellan98_99 said: Lara,I went back to the DHCP GUI, and I see "configure options" but no where do I have a place in which I CAN add a new settings or dhcp option...? I believe in W2k3 that were amble opportunity to ADD within the GUI, I just don't see it on W2k8 server...Would appreciate any further advise...thxmagellanWow, another thing of reduced functionality? That is very disturbing as I have lots of custom DHCP settings in Win 2003 R2 DHCP.Thanks for the info.lforbes

The functionality for adding custom DHCP options still exist, although not through the GUI. Instead options can be added with the 'netsh' command. Yes thereare some changes in server 2008 in terms of admin, but I wouldnt say reduced functionality.

rossm27 said: The functionality for adding custom DHCP options still exist, although not through the GUI. Instead options can be added with the 'netsh' command. Yes thereare some changes in server 2008 in terms of admin, but I wouldnt say reduced functionality.I reallydon't like the command line. That was the whole point of running Windows over linux in the first place. I had my fill of command line running Dos networks. It takes 10x longer to do anything and you have to spend time reading all the help code with all the switches in order to doa simple task that would take a few seconds ina GUI.Now if there was a logical explanation for taking away GUI abilities that were there in previous versions then I would understand. However they seem to be "dumbing" down the interface without rhyme nor reason. They did it with Vista and that is why I amconcerned about 2008.With 2000 they added so much GUI over NT and then with 2003 even more. 2008 should have MORE GUI not less.Cheers,Laralforbes

HeyLara,I know i've been pestering you towards 2008 in your other thread but I have to comment on this.I would disagree that it takes 10x longer with a command prompt. Infact, if anything admin is very quick and easy as opposed to endless clicks and wizards etc. I think the balance of GUI and command control in 2008 is very good.The powershell for server 2008 and the Exchange command shell are very powerful and intuitive. The difficulty is that they take learning, experience and ability to use. As opposed to a GUI which could be 'played' with. I've always been against the simplification of server OS's as it allows admins with little knowledge to wreak havoc, the command line (along with more advanced technologies) help to inject more skill back into IT. For most networks however, everything can be done with a GUI in server 2008.I would say that the GUI's that exist in 2008 are far more informative and powerful than previous release's, despite the fact that some admin *may* have to be performed at a command prompt. The 'roles' and 'features' way of managementis very intuitive.The server core installation of Server 2008 is a very good introduction by MS which I am very impressed with. I love the concept of a windows server with a reduced attack surface which only runs the services and tasks you want it to. The core is entirely command based, but can be GUI managed from a remote system. Incidentally, is using a command prompt to carry out a non-standard change or advanced task any different than altering a registry?Ross

rossm27 said: HeyLara,I know i've been pestering you towards 2008 in your other thread but I have to comment on this.I would disagree that it takes 10x longer with a command prompt. Infact, if anything admin is very quick and easy as opposed to endless clicks and wizards etc. I think the balance of GUI and command control in 2008 is very good.The powershell for server 2008 and the Exchange command shell are very powerful and intuitive. The difficulty is that they take learning, experience and ability to use. As opposed to a GUI which could be 'played' with. I've always been against the simplification of server OS's as it allows admins with little knowledge to wreak havoc, the command line (along with more advanced technologies) help to inject more skill back into IT. For most networks however, everything can be done with a GUI in server 2008.I would say that the GUI's that exist in 2008 are far more informative and powerful than previous release's, despite the fact that some admin *may* have to be performed at a command prompt. The 'roles' and 'features' way of managementis very intuitive.The server core installation of Server 2008 is a very good introduction by MS which I am very impressed with. I love the concept of a windows server with a reduced attack surface which only runs the services and tasks you want it to. The core is entirely command based, but can be GUI managed from a remote system. Incidentally, is using a command prompt to carry out a non-standard change or advanced task any different than altering a registry?RossI remember withWindows 2000, functionality was taken away from what could be done in NT with changing multiple user properties at once. With NT you could select multiple users and change their properties but with2000 you couldn't.Therefore I learnedscripting for Active Directoryand created all my own custom scripts to do what could be done with a GUI very simply but the developers decided to not include it.I did it but ittook me months to learn VBScript with LDAP and write all the custom scripts to do what I wanted. Then with Windows 2003 they thought to put the functionality back.In comparison the GUI is WAY faster. I have 3000 users that I have to modify every few months for profiles, groups, OU etc. To do it via script or command line would take me a lot longer than just using the GUI..It is basically I don't have the time to book-learn all the command lines. I learn the ones I have need to to be a network admin. Thank goodness for the GUI or life would be like it was back in the good old days of MSDOS.I don't agree that you cannot be a good admin without doing "memorization" or "book learning" of all the command lines. I have a degree in computer science but no official training courses in networking or what I do now. I have learned everything from just doing what I had to do to get the job done.The way I see it is if I wanted a command line driven OS I would have gone with Linux over Windows. I run a few linux command line onlyboxes for webservers and partimage image servers but that is about it. I just don't have the time or the inclination to type everything manually.I guess it is two different ways of looking at things.My main server just lost 2 of the RAID5 drives at once so I will be spending awhile rebuilding it from backup. When Iget that done and have a chanceI will put Windows 2008 Server thoughmore rigourous testing.Cheers,Laralforbes

Came across this thread and thought I'd post an answer if you're still looking. You can add custom options through the GUI. You need to right-click on IPv4 under your DHCP Server (assuming you're doing an IPv4 scope), click on "Set Predefined Options...." and then enter the option details in there. Once you've saved it there, it is then a configurable option under your scope. Hope that helps :) Leigh