DHCP operational policies at IU

At Indiana University, the proper administration of DHCP service requires close coordination between the Network Operations Center (NOC) and the server administrators. Furthermore, the nature of these services requires that they are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days per year.

Improperly configured DHCP servers can and do cause widespread problems on subnets. When in the past some departments deployed local DHCP servers, such practices invariably resulted in problems with people obtaining proper IP addresses, conflicts with other legitimate IP addresses, user confusion and frustration, and unnecessary departmental overhead. Consequently, UITS restricts departments or individuals from setting up local DHCP servers.

As UITS extends DHCP services to areas not currently using DHCP, it will require you to authenticate. The first time a computer is brought up configured to use DHCP, you will be prompted for your IU username and passphrase. Your Ethernet hardware address will be entered into a database, and associated with your IU username. This provides a huge increase in troubleshooting capacity, and also provides increased network security. Local UITS support people in departments using registered DHCP will have access to troubleshooting and support tools. In time, the goal is to provide DHCP only through an authenticated mechanism.