DHCP for Windows 2000: Managing the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol

People don't sit at desks in offices the way they used to, and that's why the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) makes sense: it allows efficient allocation of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses and other configuration values to a shifting pool of networked devices. DHCP for Windows 2000 explains how Windows 2000 implements the eminently handy protocol, and shows how to make administrative decisions about how your network provides DHCP services.

The book does a great job of explaining what goes on behind the scenes, even when Windows 2000 tries to sugarcoat DHCP and related functions with wizard interfaces. Each prompted-for value and how it relates to the larger configuration is explained, along with how to do the same configurations without the wizards, plus comprehensive lists of legal options and parameters. Readers will appreciate the care the book takes in framing how DHCP fits into the rest of the Windows 2000 networking architecture, especially Domain Name Service (DNS) and the server-clustering services. References to standards documents make additional research easy. --David Wall

Topics covered: The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), as implemented by Microsoft Windows 2000 on the server side and other Microsoft operating systems (including MS-DOS) on the client side. Chapters address (pun intended) basic configuration scenarios, as well as scopes, superscopes, multihomed DHCP servers, and clustering. For those for whom DHCP won't do, there's a section on multicast configuration with Multicast Address Dynamic Client Allocation Protocol (MADCAP) under Windows 2000.