# Multiple NIC DHCP configuration



## stedig (Nov 28, 2011)

Hello all,
I was thrown into managing the network at our school last fall and have been working hard to improve our network since. I am really new to this but have been learning a lot. I have transformed our network from a peer-to-peer into a domain with the domain server running Windows server 2008.

Now we are running into a problem. We share the campus and network with another school and they have given us a range of IP addresses from 192.168.3.2-192.168.3.254 (192.168.3.1 is the gateway/router) but we have over 100 computers and we want to expand non-domain access to our students. As you might see, we are running out of addresses. 

Our server has 2 NICs. Is it possible for me to install it onto the existing network with one of the NIC on the current IP range given to us and have the second card exist on another range (172.16.x.x). My thought is that the server will then act as the gateway/DHCP for the new set and we would have more than enough addresses for all the students. I know this means the traffic would all be routed through the server.

I know this might be a really silly question but I am not sure how else to proceed and I want to get this right. There are no DHCP servers currently (all the computers have static IP) and the 172.16.x.x range is completely unused.

Thank you so much.


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

I think there can only be one authoritative DHCP server per network so it will not work. What sort of access does the other school need? Do they need to be on a separate network or can they be a part of the same network? It sounds more like a routing issue between two different networks.

If you only have 100 computers how are you running out of IP addresses? And by all means set up DHCP, I would never try and do static IP addresses with 100 computers.


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## stedig (Nov 28, 2011)

Like I said, I am really new to this aspect of computers so I will try my best to describe the set up as I understand it. If there is something that is incorrect or I use the wrong terms, I am sorry in advance.

Our campus has one internet link that comes into a firewall and then a router. The router feeds to 2 switches, one for our school and one for the school we share the campus with. I believe that our 2 schools are on different class C sub-nets of the same network. We have 192.168.3.* with 255.255.255.0 mask.

Now we have 110 computers used by teachers and administrators on a combination of wired and wireless connections. All with static IPs. We want to open the network to students laptops by adding a DHCP server but with the current set up there are only 144 IP addresses available for nearly 300 students.

My thought (possibly flawed but I am hopeful) was that we could create a new class B sub-net on the 172.30.*.* range by setting up the server as the DHCP server on one of the NICs having an IP in that range and the other NIC in the range of our current set up and then passing all the traffic through the server. 

My thought is that eventually we can move all the computers to being in this range and replace the static IPs with reservations in the DHCP to easy administrative costs.

Please correct my misconceptions if there are any or if you have better suggestions I am willing to hear them. Thank you much.


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## stedig (Nov 28, 2011)

OK, I have been looking around and I think what I really want to do is use a superscope but I am still confused about a one things. When I create the super score, I add a new IP address to the server in the new scope to act as the default gateway?


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## ChRoNo16 (May 30, 2005)

Rockn- why don't they just subnet the address to add more ? im all confused still, but yeah...


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## Rockn (Jul 29, 2001)

That is what I was thinking.


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