DHCP/Domain Controller/DNS server can they be friends?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Marc O
  • Start date Start date
M

Marc O

I need to redeploy a server I have running as a DHCP server, and I am also
trying to consolidate some servers. My question is, can I have a Win2k AD
Domain Controller that is also a DNS server become a DHCP server? Do all
those services get along, will it work with out issue?
Any advice is always greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.
Marc
 
Marc O

The answer to your question is yes these services can run together successfully. I of course will not guarantee that they will work without issue.

I will say the real issue is redundancy for fault tolerance. You want to be sure that you have a secondary DNS, additional DC's at least one additional per domain, and at bare minimum a good backup for your DHCP database. Of course all data and system states backed up before the consolidation. It is always a tricky thing to put all of your eggs in one basket

Another issue to keep in mind is the workload your placing on a DC. Depending upon the workload your DC is under you could be asking for a drop in your network performance (i.e. logon authentication). If you are in a network in which there is not a lot of activity you should be fine.
 
I appreciate the advice. As far as the DHCP database back up goes I am
switchng a bunch of users and printers from static IPs to reservations so it
will be almost a total rebuild of DHCP.
I run to DCs and 2 DNS servers for about 150-160 users about 125 or so
computers and the servers never break a sweat even first ting in the morning
when everyone logs on. I just thought I had read MS KB article saying
something about DHCP on a DC, but have yet to find it. I guess it must be ok
because MS does it on SBS all the time. Thanks again


wylie said:
Marc O

The answer to your question is yes these services can run together
Click to expand...
successfully. I of course will not guarantee that they will work without
issue.
I will say the real issue is redundancy for fault tolerance. You want to
Click to expand...
be sure that you have a secondary DNS, additional DC's at least one
additional per domain, and at bare minimum a good backup for your DHCP
database. Of course all data and system states backed up before the
consolidation. It is always a tricky thing to put all of your eggs in one
basket.
Another issue to keep in mind is the workload your placing on a DC.
Click to expand...
Depending upon the workload your DC is under you could be asking for a drop
in your network performance (i.e. logon authentication). If you are in a
network in which there is not a lot of activity you should be fine.
 
I run all three services in classroom environments to teach this stuff.
They will function together on the same server.

When it will work in your enviroment depends on the traffic on your network
and load placed on the server. For example: if you shut down the clients
everyday and they are restarted each morning, the load will be exceptionally
high.
 
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