DHCP Reservations and Exclusions


  • disadvantage of standard dynamic assignment:
    • does not guarantee any given client will retain the same IP address over time
  • useful for some clients to keep same IP address
    • e.g., network printer or wireless access point
  • one solution:
    • can configure static assignments using IP addresses outside DHCP scope
    • can also assigned addresses from a specially configured exclusion range
    • con: lose advantage of centralized configuration management
  • another solution:
    • create a reservation
      • is a mapping of MAC address or interface ID to a specific IP address within the DHCP server’s address pool
    • when DHCP server receives a request from the given interface, always provides the same IP address
      • referred to as static or fixed address assignment
    • an automatically allocated reservation refers to an address that is leased permanently to a client
      • distinct from static allocation as the administrator does not predetermine which specific IP address will be leased