HI, I have a server 2003 acting as domain and active directory server on a very small networks (13 PCs).Right now all clients are static IP addresses. I do not know enough about configuring DNS and WINS on the domain server. Is there any reason I can just turn on DHCP on the firewall (192.168.1.1) and let all the cliends use DHCP?Right now the server (192.168.1.10) is acting as the DNS server.Help?!?!??!

No, it is not as simple as that. You would need to install DHCP. You would then need to create a scope and configure the scope with the options to hand out to clients (DNS server IP, WINS server IP, default gateway IP etc). You activate the scope. You also need to authorise the DHCP server in AD before it will operate.You would then need to set each client to get its network config automatically.Bill

Hi, For more information, you can refer to the following articles: Assigning options http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc780705(WS.10).aspx DHCP Interoperability with AD DS http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd296646(WS.10).aspx Hope it helps.This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Is there any reason I can just turn on DHCP on the firewall (192.168.1.1) and let all the cliends use DHCP? DHCP is about easy management. For example you will change your Gateway address, in this case you will have to go through all client PCs and change the Gateway settings manually on each single PC, but if you are using DHCP, you just make on change on the DHCP server and the setting is propagated to all clients. There is nothing bad in using static ip addresses if you are happy to do so, but as the network grows the management complexity also grows and you will need to reduce the administrative efforts.