Whether in an existing network or a new one, there is an aspect of design that cannot be skipped: deciding if handing out IP addresses will be dynamic (automatic) or manual (one-by-one) or—the most common—a combination of the two.

By choosing to distribute them dynamically you are choosing to use a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) service somewhere on your network, and there can be some tricks to that regardless of what server you use. For this discussion, I will describe how to use user classes on a Windows DCHP Server to specify a range of IP addresses and to assign range-specific DHCP options.

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In the IT world, specifically in networking, there aren’t many aspects that are as much of an enigma as subnetting—the act of creating subnetworks.

Subnets are logical divisions of an existing network that are defined by both class of IP address and the subnet mask. Often, consultants provide network design services to budding businesses to help establish a network that fits their needs at the time. But as the business grows or its needs change there may come a time when the initial network structure no longer works.

I’m currently working on a project that fits that description to a tee. The network was conceived by consultants when there were not as many devices and users to accommodate. As the needs of the business grew, it became painfully obvious that a single /24 subnet that accommodates up to 254 hosts wasn’t enough anymore. So I’m building out a new network structure that can accommodate all of the devices we currently have, separated by types of devices, and with room for growth.

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