DHCP Server distribute IPs based on computer name?

[captainnapalmse]

Good morning -

I've got a Metro Ethernet connection across four of my offices, and computers/networks in each office. I've got two sets of IPs in each individual office (one controls the PCs and data, the other is for the phone systems). I'm having issues with the computers picking up IPs from the "wrong" locations, meaning my offices, A, B, C, D, are all randomly picking up IPs from other offices. So:

In Office B, a user ends up with an IP from Office A. This causes the PC to run network resources local to that office extremely slowly, since it's routing through the gateway in Office A.

All of the PCs in each office are named based on their location, so all my PCs are OFFA-##, OFFB-##, etc.

Is there a DHCP server of some sort, somewhere, that is capable of looking at the PC's name and dishing out an IP based on that name? That would resolve all my issues without needing to change the entire network infrastructure.

Any assistance or thoughts on this would be appreciated. My telecom vendor has been somewhat less than helpful in trying to resolve these issues, as they configured the system differently than what was installed, but won't change it without a $10k price tag. As a non-profit agency, we can't handle that kind of cost.

Thanks in advance.

Scott

 

[SimonDavies]

Do it via mac address and use reservations, that way they will always get the same IP address and if you need to make changes to the network infrastructure (for example a change in DNS server) then you can still do it at the DHCP scope and won't have to visit every machine.

One of the issues you will encounter however is if you have mobile users moving between offices, if you do they will cross the network and still get DHCP from their parent servers (assuming that you're still allowing DHCP traffic to cross network links).

Not too sure on how Metro Ethernet works but if you have routers at each location I would look at how the IPHelper or BootP agent is configured and perhaps just disable it in it's entirety.. of course it could be that you don't have that and it's just a free for all when it comes to DHCP.




Simon

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[captainnapalmse]

The metro ethernet deal is just like a regular network, it just happens to be at different locations. It's like having a big physical network, to a degree. The link between sites is just slower. It basically is just a free-for-all when it comes to DHCP, and that's where the problem is.

I did think of the MAC address way, but I've got 300 PCs across sites, and they move around somewhat regularly. It would be a nightmare to maintain. We don't have the funds to purchase hardware or software, so I was hoping there might be some sort of advanced DHCP server somewhere that could pull off addressing based on PC name.

I'm game for other ideas, though.

Scott

 

[unclerico]

You desperately need to segment your network. A fully layer 2 network of that size just makes me cringe. What devices do you have terminating the MetroE connections??

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