How to setup DHCP failover step by step guide (Windows Server 2022)

Learn how to install Dynamic Host Control Protocol (DHCP) and configure it in a failover cluster so that in the event one of the servers stops responding, DHCP leases are still able to be issued in a resilient way. In this example, I go through the process of installing the required roles and features, authorising the DHCP server, and replicate the scopes between the DHCP cluster servers.
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Hi, I’m Danny, a London based IT consultant and sporadic blogger. You can view all my blog posts at: www.dannymoran...

[@mikecole900]

Firstly, I'm sorry to comment on a year old video. This was very informative and helpful. Thank you very much for making this. You covered that the two dhcp servers are essentially autonomous when it comes to new reservations created on one or the other, and that you need to force Replication Failover Scopes. How are address lease expirations handled or shared between the two? Thanks - MAC

[@danny_moran]

When the client checks in again to renew the DHCP lease, it will just be given the same IP address regardless of which dhcp server in the failover group responds. If the lease has actually expired, then when it checks in again, it will just be given a new lease, and potentially IP address, from either sever. Thanks for watching!

[@mikecole900]

Okay got it! Consider me liked and subscribed. Take care!@@danny_moran

[@onjisan]

Thanks for this, worked great.

[@danny_moran]

Glad it helped. Thanks for watching!

[@ShabirShoaib]

Easy and very simple video. Quick question. I have 2 different domains so can I set up DHCP failover between 2 different domains?

[@danny_moran]

I'm not sure. I've never used it in this scenario, unfortunately. Thanks for watching!

[@kelvinliang7151]

great video!! quick question, with the DHCP failover configured, in the vlan interface, do we still need to configure ip helper pointing to both DHCP servers, or do we just need to point to the primary DHCP server? when the primary server has issue, how does the 2nd server take over?

[@danny_moran]

I think you would also need to add an ip helper for the second dhcp server as when the dhcp service fails over, the second dhcp server will have a different ip address to the primary. Thanks for watching!

[@RDReynoldsOutdoors]

Worked great thanks

[@danny_moran]

Great to hear! Thanks for watching!

[@BarryVanWyk007]

Hello, Thank you. Can you make a Video of DHCP Failover with no Domain server? I need to set one up for Ip phones only

[@danny_moran]

For a Windows DHCP server and failover to work correctly, it needs to be connected to an Active Directory domain. Thanks for watching!

[@robturner724]

This is great thanks, can I use this method to move the dhcp service to new servers? ie. once I've added the new ones, remove the old dhcp server?

[@danny_moran]

I've never tried using it to move the DHCP scope to another server. I have a guide on how to migrate DHCP here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mmiylKSilttooNE Thanks for watching!

[@robturner724]

@@danny_moran Sorry another Q, does this need to be done out of hours? because once the secondary server has DHCP enabled but before the scope is synced from the master, will it hand out IP addresses from a default scope or will it just not respond until it's configured correctly with a scope?

[@danny_moran]

I've never had an issue doing this within business hours. There aren't any scopes created by default on the secondary DHCP server, so there are no IP addresses for it to give out.

[@realLuisGiordano]

Does it work on the same network? Tried to do a DHCP load balancing failover between two servers in the same network, but whenever I need to restart one of the servers, the DHCP Server service won't start because it detected another DHCP server in the network.

[@danny_moran]

Yes, this works with DHCP servers on the same network. I'm not entirely sure what you mean. I don't recall having issues with DHCP load balancing. Thanks for watching!

[@ChickenLegs-qi2fb]

I'm getting this error at the end: Configure DHCP Failover failed. Error: 20010: The specified option does not exist I check online for solutions and many people suggesting to make sure that both DHCP servers got the same Predfined Options and Values which they got... I'm out of ideas. (I got the same error but the Predefined Options and values are the same. Any other suggestions ? or the issue lies somewhere else?)

[@danny_moran]

I've not seen this error before. A quick internet search suggests it might have something to do with custom scope options. Have you setup any additional custom options?

[@ChickenLegs-qi2fb]

​@@danny_moran Yes, that was the issue. This error is mainly because the predefined DHCP options are configured on the master server, but the same options are not available on the partner server. You only need to add the corresponding DHCP options on the partner server.

[@Native722]

How do you setup a secondary server? Is it just a 2nd domain?

[@danny_moran]

The secondary server is just a second Windows server install. It's on the same domain. Thanks for watching!

[@ronaldgrospe3862]

Hi Great video. I just setup my dhcp failover (load balance) but my Scope Options did not show up on my second DHCP server. Any idea why? The server is Windows Server 2022 and ran Replicate Failover Scope. Thanks

[@danny_moran]

Is it just the scope options not replicating on the second dhcp server? or are there other settings missing? On the primary, try right clicking the scope and replicating the scope and replicating the relationship to see if that forces it or shows any errors. Thanks for watching!

[@ronaldgrospe3862]

@@danny_moran hi yes just the scope option. I replicated both and no errors. Still nothing.

[@danny_moran]

I'm not sure on this one. I don't recall ever having an issue with the scope options not showing, however, I had been a while since I've set this up. You might have to do a web search to see if anyone else has experienced this issue. Sorry I couldn't be of more help for this one.

[@ronaldgrospe3862]

@@danny_moran no worries. Your video helped a ton. Thanks!

[@jiaxiong7228]

then how about failover for ADDS, DNS and DHCP

[@danny_moran]

ADDS will automatically replicate between all domain controllers. DNS will also replicate between DNS servers. You should only need to setup the failover between DHCP servers. Thanks for watching!

[@jiaxiong7228]

does it works for window server 2016

[@danny_moran]

Yes, this will work for Windows Server 2016. Thanks for watching!