How to Install DHCP Server in Windows Server 2008?

Domain Host Configuration Protocol or DHCP server in any network scenario is quite essential when there are several computer systems connected to each other and it is practically not possible for administrators to assign IP addresses manually to each of them. DHCP server when configured properly automatically assigns the IP addresses to the computer systems which request for it. DHCP server assigns the IP addresses to the client computers on the basis of the network address and IP address range defined during the configuration of the server. In Windows server 2008 DHCP server allows administrators to configure and specify the network address and IP address range during the installation period itself. However in some cases administrators would want to configure the DHCP server after it is successfully installed on a Windows server 2008 computer. As a systems administrator if you want to install a DHCP server you need to follow the steps given as below:

1.       Logon to Windows server 2008 computer with the account that has administrative privileges.

2.       Click on Start button and from the available menu go to Server Manager.

3.       And from the opened box click on Roles from the left pane and from the right pane click on Add Roles link.

4.       On Before You Begin page click on Next button and from Select Server Roles page check DHCP Server checkbox to select it.

5.       Click on Next button and on the appeared page click on Next button again.

6.       On Select Network Bindings page leave everything as default and click on Next button.

7.       On Specify IPv4 DNS Server Settings page under Parent Domain text box type the name of the zone and click on Validate button.

8.       Once done click on Next button and on the next page click on Next button again.

9.       On Add or Edit DHCP Scopes page click on Next button. Alternatively you can specify the scopes on this very page itself.

10.   On next page make on Next button and on the appeared next page click on Next button again.

11.   On Confirm Installation Selections page click on Install button to start the installation of DHCP server in Windows server 2008.