Our work group has moved to a new building with Internet access but no DHCP service. After setting up 30 computers with static IP addresses, we want to implement a DHCP server but do not have access to the router or any money to spend on a dedicated appliance. I have a Linux system I could use. How do I set up a DHCP server on a Linux system?

If your Linux system has the standard software development tools installed, you can set up a DHCP server without too much trouble.

The following describes how to install the latest DHCP daemon software from www.isc.org.

Download the dhcp-xxx-tar.gz file from the software download section. Unpack the file with the command

tar xvfz dhcp-xxx-tar.gz

Move to the newly created directory and type

./configure

followed by

make && make install

to build and install the software. Before launching the DHCP server, copy the file server/dhcpd.conf from the build directory to the file /etc/dhcpd.conf and edit the configuration settings to match your environment.

Most of the options are self-explanatory. Set the domain name, identify your DNS servers by their host names, and declare the subnet address range you want to provide DHCP service for. If you get an error message about Dynamic DNS, add the line

ddns-update-style none:

to the global declaration section of your dhcpd.conf file.