DHCP reservations for a range of MAC addresses

dhcphyper-vnetworkingwindows-server-2008windows-server-2012

Question

Our DHCP server is set up to only give IP addresses to machines that it knows about (all IPs excluded, reservations for each MAC address). Part of the address range is used for virtual machines on a Hyper-V cluster, managed by Microsoft System Center.

Currently, the virtual machines get MAC addresses from an address pool, and there are DHCP reservations for the first addresses in that pool. The problem is that virtual machines are regularly being added and removed, and a couple days ago, those reservations ran out. I had to figure out what addresses were still being used, clean up unused reservations, and create new ones for the next set of MAC addresses.

Is there a way to reserve a set of addresses by prefix? Is there some feature I don't know about, or a feature with a higher domain functional level? We can raise the level if needed (currently 2008, but our servers are 2012 and 2012 R2).

Information

  • Domain functional level: Windows Server 2008
  • Microsoft System Center 2012 R2

Best Answer

Instead of creating static reservations, why not set mac restrictions to get a normal DHCP address?

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/ff521761.aspx

MAC address filtering (aka link-layer filtering) is a feature for IPv4 addresses that allows you to include or exclude computers and devices based on their MAC address.

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