Hi good people. If asked why should an Active Directory Server be configured with a static IP address, what would be the best answer? Regards, TM A DC is recommended to have a static IP however, DCs don't always need to have static IP configuration. However services the DC would host such as DNS must have static IP address. Active Directory highly relies on DNS and DNS is responsible for IP to a hostname conversion. If you configure DC with dynamic IP, you would likely to have issues with AD communication. As far as I remember, if you try to configure dc with dynamic IP address, you would get a warning message before proceeding further with DC promotion. I do not represent the organisation I work for, all the opinions expressed here are my own. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights. - .... .- -. -.- ... --..-- ... .- -. - --- ... ....

Hi Matombo, By default a server running as a Domain Controller is also a DNS Server. The ip address of a DNS server should be static, e.g. does not change at random, because other computers cannot lookup the hostname of a DNS Server using DNS. The ip address has to be known beforehand and therefore not variable. You can still, however, assign a static ip address using DHCP, using reserved addresses. but that would make a Domain Controller and/or DNS Server depended on DHCP. Because DHCP has dependencies on DNS and Active Directory this is not advisable. So it's all about dependency chains. I hope it's clear to you now.

Hi good people. If asked why should an Active Directory Server be configured with a static IP address, what would be the best answer? Regards, TM Hello, Technically, a DC can use a static / dynamic IP address. If the DC is also a DNS server then it SHOULD use a static IP address and in this case, client computers will not point to it permanently as a DNS server as it may change its IP address. This is TRUE unless you do a static DHCP reservation for it. If the DC is not a DNS server then you CAN use a static / dynamic IP address. However, I would not recommend that as this require a DNS update which should be replicated to all DC / DNS servers in the domain / forest. What I mean here is that this is possible BUT I don't think that it is a good approach. BETTER to use static ones! This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. Microsoft Student Partner 2010 / 2011 Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator: Security Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Security Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows 7, Configuring Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Designing and Providing Volume Licensing Solutions to Large Organizations Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Enterprise Administrator Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator Microsoft Certified Trainer

Hi good people. If asked why should an Active Directory Server be configured with a static IP address, what would be the best answer? Regards, TM

Hi good people. If asked why should an Active Directory Server be configured with a static IP address, what would be the best answer? Regards, TM A DC is recommended to have a static IP however, DCs don't always need to have static IP configuration. However services the DC would host such as DNS must have static IP address. Active Directory highly relies on DNS and DNS is responsible for IP to a hostname conversion. If you configure DC with dynamic IP, you would likely to have issues with AD communication. As far as I remember, if you try to configure dc with dynamic IP address, you would get a warning message before proceeding further with DC promotion. I do not represent the organisation I work for, all the opinions expressed here are my own. This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees and confers no rights. - .... .- -. -.- ... --..-- ... .- -. - --- ... ....

Hi Matombo, By default a server running as a Domain Controller is also a DNS Server. The ip address of a DNS server should be static, e.g. does not change at random, because other computers cannot lookup the hostname of a DNS Server using DNS. The ip address has to be known beforehand and therefore not variable. You can still, however, assign a static ip address using DHCP, using reserved addresses. but that would make a Domain Controller and/or DNS Server depended on DHCP. Because DHCP has dependencies on DNS and Active Directory this is not advisable. So it's all about dependency chains. I hope it's clear to you now.

Hi good people. If asked why should an Active Directory Server be configured with a static IP address, what would be the best answer? Regards, TM Hello, Technically, a DC can use a static / dynamic IP address. If the DC is also a DNS server then it SHOULD use a static IP address and in this case, client computers will not point to it permanently as a DNS server as it may change its IP address. This is TRUE unless you do a static DHCP reservation for it. If the DC is not a DNS server then you CAN use a static / dynamic IP address. However, I would not recommend that as this require a DNS update which should be replicated to all DC / DNS servers in the domain / forest. What I mean here is that this is possible BUT I don't think that it is a good approach. BETTER to use static ones! This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties or guarantees , and confers no rights. Microsoft Student Partner 2010 / 2011 Microsoft Certified Professional Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator: Security Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer: Security Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Active Directory, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows Server 2008 Applications Infrastructure, Configuration Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Windows 7, Configuring Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist: Designing and Providing Volume Licensing Solutions to Large Organizations Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Enterprise Administrator Microsoft Certified IT Professional: Server Administrator Microsoft Certified Trainer