DHCP Manageability

Applies To: Windows Server 2008

Designing for manageability underlines the importance of optimizing availability, scalability, and performance with the minimum number of servers. Using a standard version of the DHCP service helps reduce management overhead because a consistent set of management procedures and tools can be used across the enterprise network.

Use of Windows Vista throughout the enterprise network provides the simplest DHCP design to manage. In this design, both the Microsoft Management Console (MMC) and the Netsh command-line tool can be used to manage all DHCP servers. A mix of DHCP server versions or DHCP servers from different vendors can be more complex to manage. If you need to manage other services on the DHCP servers that do not have MMCs, you can use Terminal Services. When the DHCP servers are deployed, Terminal Services should be installed in remote administration mode.