DHCP and DNS Server Configuration

1. Objective:
Learn how to apply DHCP on server and PCs will be assigned IP addresses through
DHCP. 

2. Recourses Required:
 Computer
 Packet Tracer (version 5 or higher)

3. Introduction

3.1. DHCP Server

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) is a client/server protocol that

automatically provides an Internet Protocol (IP) host with its IP address and other
related configuration information such as the subnet mask and default gateway.
DHCP allows hosts to obtain required TCP/IP configuration information from a
DHCP server.

Every device on a TCP/IP-based network must have a unique unicast IP address to

access the network and its resources. Without DHCP, IP addresses for new computers
or computers that are moved from one subnet to another must be configured
manually; IP addresses for computers that are removed from the network must be
manually reclaimed.

With DHCP, this entire process is automated and managed centrally. The DHCP
server maintains a pool of IP addresses and leases an address to any DHCP-enabled
client when it starts up on the network. Because the IP addresses are dynamic (leased)
rather than static (permanently assigned), addresses no longer in use are automatically
returned to the pool for reallocation. The network administrator establishes DHCP
servers that maintain TCP/IP configuration information and provide address
configuration to DHCP-enabled clients in the form of a lease offer.

3.2. DNS server

A DNS server is a computer server that contains a database of public IP addresses

and their associated hostnames, and in most cases, serves to resolve, or translate,
those common names to IP addresses as requested. DNS servers run special software
and communicate with each other using special protocols.

The opposite is true too, that while we as humans can understand the words in the
URL much easier than the IP address numbers, other computers and network devices
understand the IP address.

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 Therefore, we have DNS servers because we not only want to use human-readable names
to access websites, but the computers need to use IP addresses to access websites. The
DNS server is that translator between the hostname and IP address.

4. Procedure
Task 1: DHCP server
1. Set-up the system in packet tracer with server, switch, hub and end devices

2. Open the server and go to the Desktop tab, click IP Configuration and enter the IP
address.  192.168.1.1
3. Now go to the DHCP service of server and
 Enter IP for default Gateway: 192.168.1.1
 Start IP address: 192.168.1.0
 Maximum number of Users: 120
 Click Save.
4. Now, click on any PC that is attached to the server, go to IP configuration and
select DHCP. You will see that DHCP will successfully assign IP address to the
PC. This will reduce manual effort of assigning IP addresses to each end system.
5. We can also open the website of the server through any PC by going to the Web
Browser option and entering the IP address of the server
6. And we can ping the server by going to the PC’s command prompt and entering
server’s IP address. 

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Task 2: DHCP and DNS Configuration:

1. Set-up the system in packet tracer with server, switch, router and end devices

2. Set up the DHCP server.

3. Now turn on the DHCP server

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 4. Now, click on any PC that is attached to the DHCP server, go to IP configuration
and select DHCP. You will see that DHCP will successfully assign IP address to
the PC. It will adapt the default date way and DNS IP address of DHCP server.
5. Add IP addresses to router interfaces.

6. Set up the DNS server

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 7. Assign IP address to the main server (gmail.com)

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 8. Perform the following and add print shot.
 Ping from PC0 to the server 20.0.0.2 and see the response from command prompt.
 Type http://www.gmail.com in URL of any PC and see the content of web page.
 Name the URL to your own name. Add the title ‘Your name’ and Edit the content
to add your university details.
 Now add another server with the router with a different network address.
Configure IP addresses and add it to the DNS server.
 Now ping it from any PCs attached to this network. Change the content of HTML
file and show the results.

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 University of Engineering & Technology (UET),
Taxila
Computer Communication Networks Lab
LAB WORKSHEET (Lab # 4)
Q.1 What DHCP and DNS stand for?
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Q.2 Why do we have DNS server?

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Q.3 What is difference between static and dynamic IP addressing?

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Q.4 In command prompt of your home LAN, type Ipconfig and see the IP addresses of
default gate way, DNS and DHCP? What are they?
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Q.5 Ping from PC0 to laptop1in task1 and analyse the behaviour of hub in a network. How is
it different from switch??
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