DHCP Primer Page 5 — The Software Touch If you are an above-average user willing to challenge yourself and your programming skills, or if you have experience with networking software, then you may wish to try your hand at running a software-based DHCP server. Windows 2000 Server and Windows NT Server come with DHCP services built in, so if you happen to have a server lying around that's at your disposal, you're in luck. If the build you are using doesn't have the DHCP services, you can get them on the Web as an add-on or patch. If you have a Linux box somewhere on your network, you can use the Internet Software Consortium's suite of DHCP tools. These tools are, of course, free. Check out the fully customizable applications both for the client and server sides available for Linux at Freshmeat.net. There are also a good number of DHCP server and client applications for BSD and different flavors of Unix out there. Keep in mind that these applications will only allow you to add dynamic addressing to your network. To share a cable or DSL connection, you still need a network router or some sort of Internet sharing software running along side your DHCP server. Luckily, the packages available commercially to home users have everything you need. There are several stable all-in-one applications available for both the Windows and Mac OS. Many software companies sell complete home server packages, offering security features and performance enhancement tools along with DHCP services. The Windows packages from 602 Software, Incognito and Puzzle Systems contain DHCP services along with other useful networking tools. These packages are reasonably priced between $50 and $150. If you're running a Macintosh network, Vicomsoft's SoftRouter package is a great place to start. SoftRouter also has special features that make it easy to share your Internet connection with both Macs and PCs on the same network. But remember, running a software-based DHCP server on a networked computer has its drawbacks: slower access times, more than your share of rebooting and that sinking feeling in your processor. To next page of DHCP To last page of DHCP Back to the HTML Home Page