DHCP or fixed IPs for servers ????

[Dave Ihnat]

On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 12:28:24AM -0600, linux guy wrote:
> I have a number of servers on our local network.  I have always set the IP
> on my servers manually, ie disabled DHCP and assigned each one a unique
> fixed IP.

You really don't need to do that.  Just use an IP mapping scheme,
restrict the DHCP range, and manually assign static server addresses
from a known range.

> Is there a practical way to assign an IP to a server automatically, ie with
> DHCP and still have other computers find it on the network and have services
> like port forwarding, firewalls, etc. work properly in routers ?

Well, yes, you can reserve addresses by MAC address, use DDNS with your
DHCP server to update DNS, but why?  Servers should always be effectively
static; any scheme that assigns addresses to them increases complexity
and the possibility of problems.

$0.02.

Cheers,
--
	Dave Ihnat
	dihnat at dminet.com