2 x cisco switch issue dhcp server on the same subnet

[samuel.lam]

ALL

Is it possible to config 2 switch be the dhcp servers for the same network range. if one down , the other one will take up the job.

as i try in the lab, there is no such big error, even i reboot, or put some pc on static IP. but any more issue do i have to concern in doing so.

[pkhatri]

Hi,

There is no real problem with doing so. Before assigning an address, the DHCP server on the switch will ping that address to make sure that it has not already been assigned by any other DHCP servers.

Hope that helps - pls rate the post if it does.

Paresh

[arvindchari]

Hi samuel,

Indeed you can configure 2 layer3 devices to be dhcp servers. I do this currently by splitting the scope.

I.e on the same subnet, one server handles out a scope range of 192.168.1.32 to 192.168.1.127 and the other one handles 192.168.1.128 to 192.168.1.254. (The remaining are static ips for servers). Place either of the devices at opposite ends of your network for best results.

Although I think there might be a more efficient way to go about this ?

Any suggestions people?