ComTech: IT Support Stirling
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When is the right time to upgrade my IT?

I have a problem and I am guessing a lot of you will have had the same problem at some point. You see my tech kit (ie laptops, Mac etc) is starting to get old and I think I might be getting to the point where they need upgrading to something newer and faster.  That however is not the problem – the problem is I don’t really want to spend the money right now but when IS the right time?

I am a big believer in if it ain’t broke then don’t fix it and this has served me well in the past.  I don’t believe you should just upgrade something because there is a newer, shiner, faster model on the market but I also don’t believe you should keep an old server going well past its sell by date just because it works either and on very old software (Server 2003 anyone?).

Finding the balance can be very tricky and in a lot of cases gets overshadowed by running a business and making money instead. I have lost count of the number of times I have had conservations with clients along the lines of “The kit is working at the moment so we shall leave it alone and fix it later”.  In one case their server died a month later!!

So back to the problem – when is the best time to upgrade your systems? When they aren’t doing what you need.  If it is taking longer to open files, access emails, or running outdated software like Windows Vista this is a green light for upgrading.  If your server is on its last legs or you aren’t confident your backups aren’t working properly this would also be a good time.

Remember if your systems fail you can’t do any work and as we all know time is money.

About the Author

P1020114

Hi I’m Chris Wakefield the owner of ComTech IT Support. I provide Cisco, Windows, OS X and Linux based IT Support to small businesses throughout Scotland.

Follow @Comtech247 on Twitter

When you buy a new machine make sure you know what you are buying

It has happened. You woke up one morning and realised that the old and trusty laptop (or PC) is no longer upto the job and it needs replacing.  No problem you say I will go along to somewhere like PC World and just pick up a new one.  For a home user this approach works well but what about when the laptop or PC is used for business?


You see if you are in the market for a Windows machine (as most businesses are) you may not realise that there are different versions of Windows.  Taking Windows 8.1 as an example, there is Windows 8.1, Windows 8.1 Pro and also Windows 8.1 Enterprise. Which one you choose will depend on what you want the machine for.  If you are a small business user then you should go for Windows 8.1 Pro but if you buy from somewhere like PC World, Argos, John Lewis etc most of the machines come with Windows 8.1  and not Pro.  So what is the downside of just getting Windows 8.1 then?

The two main reasons are encryption and connecting to a server. Windows 8.1 Pro comes with BitLocker which allows you to encrypt your hard drive and keeps all your data safe if someone steals it. At present I don’t know of any way to successfully encrypt a Windows 8.1 system  (if anyone does please let me know).

The second reason is perhaps more pressing.  If you have a Windows server installed on your network you need Windows 8.1 Pro (or Windows 7 Professional) to be able to connect to it.  Home versions of all Microsoft operating systems can’t connect to a Windows server.  I have been to clients in the past who had maybe 5 or 6 Windows 7 Home Premium systems who wanted a server to backup all their data to.  Straight away a Windows server was out the window and I ended up installing a Linux one instead (personally a better choice anyway in this instance).  If you have an onsite Exchange server for your emails home versions of Windows are also a no goer. I have even seen business critical applications being run on a Windows 7 Starter netbook before which should never happen.

So before you go out and spend your companies hard earned on something which doesn’t fit your requirements do yourself a favour and check what software it is running.

About the Author

P1020114

Hi I’m Chris Wakefield the owner of ComTech IT Support. I provide Windows, Mac and Linux based IT Support to small businesses in Stirling, Alloa and Falkirk.

Follow @Comtech247 on Twitter

 

 

 

The rise of the Cloud Backup server


It usually starts with a meeting and this time was no different.  I got asked to a new clients offices last week to discuss networking up their infrastructure.  Now we are talking 6 laptops max with one remotely working from home.  Should be nice and easy.

So we get talking and it turns out that what they really need is to share files.  Up comes the topic of online storage and very swifty I am quoting them for a new Linux based server which will have Dropbox installed.  This way they can have one copy of all their files on site and another backed up to the cloud which they can access from anywhere.  This fits their requirements perfectly so the job is a good un.

I my last post I mentioned that I was installing more and more NAS boxes onsite for business clients but if I am honest I am probably installing more cloud backup servers (ie Linux or Windows servers whose main purpose is to synchorize files with Dropbox so the client has a full copy of their files onsite, and in one central location, should anything happen to the cloud provider). Now I choose Dropbox because I have used it for the last 5 years on my own systems and like the feature set, its security and you can access your Dropbox from anything with an internet connection.  Yes I could use Box, Google Drive, Microsoft Skydrive etc but I tend to stick with software I trust and in this case that is Dropbox.

With more and more people working away from the office accessing your files on the move is becoming very important to a lot of companies. Cloud based solutions have very much come of age and I am sure I will be asked to install lots more Cloud Backup servers for clients (depending of course on the broadband speed in their main office!!).  On the flip side there are still a lot of businesses who rely on either on site backups or in a lot of cases no backups whatsoever and it is these companies that risk losing all their data if the worst happens.

So what do you think? Are cloud backup servers here to stay? Do cloud backups have a future? Let me know.

About the Author

P1020114

Hi I am Chris Wakefield the owner of ComTech IT Support. I provide Windows and Linux based IT Support, laptop repairs and computer repairs to both business and personal clients in and around Stirling.

For a list of what I can offer you why not visit my website www.comtech247.net where you will find a list of my services, testimonials, blog and much more!!

 

The good and not so good of using Cloud Backups


I had some spare time last week and decided to make use of it by testing disaster recovery when using cloud storage.  I was interested to see how long it would take to download files from Dropbox if a hard drive failed and I would have to replace it and reinstall the operating system.  A lot of small businesses are beginning to use Dropbox on a single system and using it to back up all their data so it would give me more insight in what could happen to them.

My system would be a desktop with Ubuntu 12.04 installed on a 500GB hard drive which I would wipe completely (simulating hard drive failure) and replace with Debian 6.  After installation I would then install Dropbox and see how long it took to sync all the files (in this case 200 GB).  My internet speed for this test was 13 Mb/sec.

So without waiting to see if Dropbox was synced (real world disaster scenario) I wiped the hard drive and set about installing Debian 6.  It didn’t matter what the new operating system was but I had Debian to hand and decided to use that. Installation went smoothly enough and then I set about reinstalling Evolution (email client) and Dropbox.  All the Evolution emails were backed up to Dropbox so I could either wait until the whole thing synced or go onto the Dropbox website and download them.  Website it was and the download took over an hour.  Once downloaded it was easy to restore and soon enough we had emails.

During this time Dropbox was quite happily downloading files from its servers (in this case 200 GB) but it was taking ages.  At one point the estimated time was 35 days!!!  This is the one major drawback when only using online services for data storage.  If you store a lot of data online and you need to download the whole lot it can take forever.  If that data happens to be business critical which you require instant access to then you will have problems unless your broadband speed is very high.

Another problem I encountered was that of bandwidth.  If you change the upload and download settings in Dropbox to maximum then your internet performance will suffer dramatically.  I tried to access my website on another system on the network and to say the performance was sluggish is an understatement.  At times it was unworkable so I adjusted the settings again but this had the effect of increasing the time it took for the files to be completely downloaded.  It is a tradeoff between requiring internet access and requiring access to all your files.

After 8 hours I had only downloaded 60GB.  I still had 140 GB to go.

So all in all what can I take away from this test?

1. If possible don’t have Dropbox installed on a single hard drive.  Recently I have been installing Debian Linux servers which are set up as RAID 1 onto which Dropbox is installed.  If one hard drive fails then the second takes over which means there is less chance of you needing to resync all your files.

2. Only sync the files that you need.  Keep all your business critical files in one or two folders in Dropbox so if your hard drive does fail you can quickly download the required files on another system and not have to wait for a complete resync.

3. Get the best broadband speed you can afford.  The faster the broadband speed the quicker your files can be downloaded.

4. Don’t rely on cloud backups alone.  Cloud storage is great for backing up all your files but when you don’t have access to your files (eg broadband outage, hard drive failure etc) it doesn’t really work.  I would seriously have a think about not keeping all your files on your laptop or desktop but instead keep a full copy on a dedicated server with Dropbox installed and RAID (RAID 1 minimum).  This way you can continue to access the files through Dropbox but when you lose the connection you can still access all your files locally.

Cloud storage is great but don’t get caught out when  you can’t access it.

About the Author

P1020114

Hi I am Chris Wakefield the owner of ComTech IT Support. I provide Windows and Linux based IT Support, laptop repairs and computer repairs to both business and personal clients in and around Stirling.

For a list of what I can offer you why not visit my website www.comtech247.net where you will find a list of my services, testimonials, blog and much more.

 

 

How to set up a DNS Server on Debian 6.0 “Squeeze”

Today we are going to set up and configure a DNS Server on Debian 6.0 “Squeeze”.  We will be using the bind9 package which does not come by default so we will need to install it. Open up a terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install bind9

There are four files which we we need to configure.  Lets take the first.  In a terminal type:

sudo nano /etc/bind/named.conf.local

I have used nano to open up the file but use whichever text editor you are happy with. Insert the following code into the file:

——————————————————————————————————————————–

# This is the zone definition. replace example.com with your domain name
zone “comtech.com” {
type master;
file “/etc/bind/zones/comtech.com.db”;
};

# This is the zone definition for reverse DNS. replace 0.168.192 with your network address in reverse notation – e.g my network address is 192.168.0
zone “1.168.192.in-addr.arpa” {
type master;
file “/etc/bind/zones/rev.0.168.192.in-addr.arpa”;
};

——————————————————————————————————————————–


Replace comtech.com with the name of your DNS domain (this is not the same as an active directory domain but rather a name for your DNS zone).

Next up we shall configure the options file. In the terminal type:

sudo nano /etc/bind/named.conf.options

Within this file we need to modify the forwarder with the address of your ISP’s DNS servers. So modify the file adding the following:

——————————————————————————————————————————–

forwarders {

194.72.0.114;
194.74.65.69;
};

——————————————————————————————————————————–

Replace the addresses above with the addresses of your ISP’s DNS servers.

Now we need to add the zones file:

sudo mkdir /etc/bind/zones

Now we need to configure it by typing:

sudo nano /etc/bind/zones/comtech.com.db (replace comtech.com with your DNS domain).

To configure the file you will need to add the following:

——————————————————————————————————————————–

// replace example.com with your domain name. do not forget the . after the domain name!
// Also, replace ns1 with the name of your DNS server
comtech.com. IN SOA chris-server.comtech.com.
// Do not modify the following lines!
2006081401
28800
3600
604800
38400

)

// Replace the following line as necessary:
// ns1 = DNS Server name
// mta = mail server name
// example.com = domain name
comtech.com. IN NS chris-server.comtech.com.
comtech.com. IN MX 10 mta.example.com.

// Replace the IP address with the right IP addresses.
www IN A 192.168.1.4
mta IN A 192.168.0.3
chris-server IN A 192.168.1.4

——————————————————————————————————————————–

In the above code replace the following:

comtech.com with your DNS domain name,

192.168.1.4 with your static DNS server address,

chris-server.comtech.com with your computers hostname.dns-domain,

mta is your mail server (if you have one). If you do modify the IP address to show this.

Next we have to create the reverse DNS zone file:

sudo nano /etc/bind/zones/rev.1.168.192.in-addr.arpa

Add the following code:

——————————————————————————————————————————–

//replace example.com with your domain name, ns1 with your DNS server name.
// The number before IN PTR example.com is the machine address of the DNS server
@ IN SOA chris-server.comtech.com admin.comtech.com. (
2006081401;
28800;
604800;
604800;
86400
)

IN NS chris-server.comtech.com.
1 IN PTR comtech.com

——————————————————————————————————————————–

All that is left to do is restart bind:

sudo service bind9 restart

Don’t forget to test the new configuration:

dig comtech.com

About the Author

Hi I am Chris Wakefield the owner of ComTech IT Support. I provide Windows and Linux based IT Support, laptop repairs and computer repairs to both business and personal clients in and around Stirling.

For a list of what I can offer you why not visit my website www.comtech247.net where you will find a list of my services, testimonials, blog and much more.

File and Print Server – Windows or Linux?

Question for you.  If you are a small business (upto say 25 users) and you need a server to share files and printers would you go down the Windows or Linux route?


If you had asked me this question two days ago I would have said if you weren’t on a domain then Linux is the way to go.  But after trying to set up a Ubuntu 12.04 file and print server for a client for the last two days (yes two days!!) I am beginning to think otherwise.  The file sharing went fine.  I installed samba and then set up the permissions as required and then mapped the shared drive to the Windows machines.  Not a problem.

The problem came when I tried to set up the printer.  The samba configuration files were checked (and rechecked) and had no errors but no matter what I tried I could not share the printer successfully across the network.  After a lot of head scratching and cursing I think I have finally found the problem – drivers.  The one big downfall with Linux is hardware drivers (it is getting better though) and especially print drivers.

So not only did it make me look bad it also cost my client money as it took me longer to sort out the issues.  In hindsight more research was needed to double check that the printer was supported but in this case the manufacturer stated that it did support Linux for this particular printer.  If this was Windows (and it hurts me to say this) it would have just worked!!

I will be honest and say in future if I can’t guarantee that a printer will work with Linux then I will be installing Windows based file and print servers, whether it be on a domain with Windows Server 2012 (when released), Windows Server 2008 R2 or Small Business Server 2011 or on a workgroup with Windows 7 Professional.

If the client only needs file sharing then Linux is definitely the way the go.

What do you think?

About the Author

Hi I am Chris Wakefield the owner of ComTech IT Support. I provide Windows and Linux based IT Support, laptop repairs and computer repairs to both business and personal clients in and around Stirling.

For a list of what I can offer you why not visit my website www.comtech247.net where you will find a list of my services, testimonials, blog and much more.

Exchange Server 2010 Tutorial


Today I will show you how to set up Exchange Server 2010 so that you can host your own emails.  For the purpose of this tutorial I will be using Exchange 2010 already installed on Windows Server 2008 R2.  This tutorial will only cover how to set up Exchange to receive and send emails and not extras like Outlook Web App (OWA) and SSL Certificates which I will cover in future tutorials.

Prerequisites

1. You have already installed the Exchange 2010 package onto Windows Server 2008 R2 with the  Transport, Client Access and Mailbox Roles (Typical Installation)

2. Install the 2007 Office System Converter Microsoft Filter Pack.

3. You have received a static public ip address off your ISP.

Hub Transport Configuration

Open up the Exchange Management Console (EMC) and expand Microsoft Exchange  On-Premises – Organization Configuration – Hub Transport.

Next click on Accepted Domains (shown below).  Your domain should be visible by default.

In the Actions pane (right side of screen) click New Accepted Domain and add the name of the domain you wish to use for email addresses.

Now we need to set up a Send Connector so in the Actions pane click New Send Connector.  This will start the wizard.

Choose a name and then set the intended use as Internet.  Click Next.  This will bring you to the Address Space page. Enter the domain you want to use for emails (mine would be comtech.com) and make sure that you check the box to include all subdomains.  Click next.

On the Network Settings page unless you are routing your emails through an upstream  host select Use domain name system (DNS) “MX” records to route mail automatically.

For the rest of the wizard click Next.

Now expand Server Configuration – Hub Transport and right click on Default and go to Properties.

On the Properties page go to the Permissions Groups tab and check the box for Anonymous users.  This will allow your Exchange server to accept incoming mail from remote mail servers.

Now you need to give your users email addresses and you do this by expanding Recipient Configuration – Mailbox and then going to New mailbox in the Actions pane.  Create email addresses for all your users.

Configuring DNS Records

The final piece to the puzzle is to configure your external DNS records.  You are going to require both an A record and an MX record.

In DNS configure the following:

A Record

mail.comtech.com = 123.56.2.14

Replace comtech.com with your domain name and 123.56.2.14 with the static public ip addresses obtained from your ISP.

MX Record

mail.comtech.com (Preference 10) 

You can set as many preferences as you like but mail will be sent to the lowest preference first.

You will also need to contact the company who hosts your domain name (either ISP or external hosting company) to add the same records to their DNS records.

 

About the Author

Hi I am Chris Wakefield the owner of ComTech IT Support. I provide Windows and Linux based IT Support, laptop repairs and computer repairs to both business and personal clients in and around Stirling.

For a list of what I can offer you why not visit my website www.comtech247.net where you will find a list of my services, testimonials, blog and much more.

How to set up an Ldap Server on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS


Today I will show you how to set up an ldap server on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.

First we need to install the packages we need so in a terminal type:

sudo apt-get install slapd ldap-utils

During installation you will be asked for an ldap administrator password.  You should choose one and then retype it.

The configurations example that follows uses a FQDN of comtech.com. You should change this to the FQDN of your organisation.

Now we need to add some additional schema files. In a terminal enter:

sudo ldapadd -Y EXTERNAL -H ldapi:/// -f /etc/ldap/schema/cosine.ldif
sudo ldapadd -Y EXTERNAL -H ldapi:/// -f /etc/ldap/schema/nis.ldif
sudo ldapadd -Y EXTERNAL -H ldapi:/// -f /etc/ldap/schema/inetorgperson.ldif

Now make a file called backend.comtech.com.ldif somewhere on your system and add the following configuration to it.

# Load dynamic backend modules
dn: cn=module,cn=config
objectClass: olcModuleList
cn: module
olcModulepath: /usr/lib/ldap
olcModuleload: back_hdb.la

# Database settings
dn: olcDatabase=hdb,cn=config
objectClass: olcDatabaseConfig
objectClass: olcHdbConfig
olcDatabase: {1}hdb
olcSuffix: dc=comtech,dc=com
olcDbDirectory: /var/lib/ldap
olcRootDN: cn=admin,dc=comtech,dc=com
olcRootPW: secret
olcDbConfig: set_cachesize 0 2097152 0
olcDbConfig: set_lk_max_objects 1500
olcDbConfig: set_lk_max_locks 1500
olcDbConfig: set_lk_max_lockers 1500
olcDbIndex: objectClass eq
olcLastMod: TRUE
olcDbCheckpoint: 512 30
olcAccess: to attrs=userPassword by dn=”cn=admin,dc=comtech,dc=com” write by anonymous auth by self write by * none
olcAccess: to attrs=shadowLastChange by self write by * read
olcAccess: to dn.base=”” by * read
olcAccess: to * by dn=”cn=admin,dc=comtech,dc=com” write by * read

We now need to add the LDIF to the directory so in a terminal type:

sudo ldapadd -Y EXTERNAL -H ldapi:/// -f  backend.comtech.com.ldif

Now create a file called frontend.comtech.com.ldif somewhere on your system and add the following configuration to it.

# Create top-level object in domain
dn: dc=comtech,dc=com
objectClass: top
objectClass: dcObject
objectclass: organization
o: Comtech
dc: comtech
description: Comtech LDAP Configuration

# Admin user.
dn: cn=admin,dc=comtech,dc=com
objectClass: simpleSecurityObject
objectClass: organizationalRole
cn: admin
description: LDAP administrator
userPassword: (ADD YOUR OWN PASSWORD HERE)

dn: ou=people,dc=comtech,dc=com
objectClass: organizationalUnit
ou: people

dn: ou=groups,dc=comtech,dc=com
objectClass: organizationalUnit
ou: groups

dn: uid=bob,ou=people,dc=comtech,dc=com
objectClass: inetOrgPerson
objectClass: posixAccount
objectClass: shadowAccount
uid: Bob
sn: Wates
givenName: Bob
cn: Bob Wates
displayName: Bob Wates
uidNumber: 1000
gidNumber: 10000
userPassword: password
gecos: Bob Wates
loginShell: /bin/bash
homeDirectory: /home/bob
shadowExpire: -1
shadowFlag: 0
shadowWarning: 7
shadowMin: 8
shadowMax: 999999
shadowLastChange: 10877
mail: [email protected]
postalCode: CF24
l: Cardiff
o: Comtech
mobile: +44 (0)7 xx xx xx xx
homePhone: +44 (0)1 xx xx xx xx x
title: System Administrator
postalAddress:
initials: BW

dn: cn=comtech,ou=groups,dc=comtech,dc=com
objectClass: posixGroup
cn: comtech
gidNumber: 10000

Now we need to add the entries to the LDAP directory.  In a terminal type:

sudo ldapadd -x -D cn=admin,dc=comtech,dc=com -W -f frontend.comtech.com.ldif

You will be asked for the ldap administration password.  This is the password in the admin section of the frontend.comtech.com.ldif file.

All that is left to do is to test the configuration so in a terminal type:

ldapsearch -xLLL -b “dc=comtech,dc=com” uid=bob sn givenName cn

If your files are configured correctly then you get the following output.

dn: uid=bob,ou=people,dc=comtech,dc=com
cn: Bob Wates
sn: Wates
givenName: Bob

About the Author

P1020114

Hi I’m Chris Wakefield the owner of ComTech IT Support. I provide Windows, Mac and Linux based IT Support to small businesses in Stirling, Alloa and Falkirk.

Follow @Comtech247 on Twitter

How to set up a print server on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS using Samba


Today I will show you how to set up a print server on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS using Samba. Samba is really good for sharing files and folders but it can also be used to share printers very easily too.  This tutorial will work on both the desktop and server variants.

First thing is to install the packages we need – Samba and smbfs. So open up a terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install samba

Type your root password when prompted.  Then install smbfs by typing:

sudo apt-get install smbfs

and then type your root password again.

We now have to configure the smb.conf file which contains all the samba settings. In a terminal type:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Locate the line WORKROUP = WORKGROUP and change it to the name of your network.  So for instance mine would be changed to WORKGROUP = Ubuntu_home.

Save the file and exit.

We now need to restart the samba service so in a terminal type:

sudo service smbd restart

Now we have to check the configuration so far.  In a terminal type:

testparm

If everything is configured correctly then you shouldn’t receive any error messages and your server is ready to go.

Linux Clients

Install samba and smbfs either using the package manager or the terminal.  We need to edit the Workgroup field in smb.conf to the name of your network (e.g Ubuntu_home). Restart the samba service and install your printer.

Windows Clients

We have to change the workgroup to Ubuntu_home and then add your printer.

About the Author

Hi I am Chris Wakefield the owner of ComTech IT Support. I provide Windows and Linux based IT Support, laptop repairs and computer repairs to both business and personal clients in and around Stirling.

For a list of what I can offer you why not visit my website www.comtech247.net where you will find a list of my services, testimonials, blog and much more.

How to set up a dhcp server on Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS


Today I will show you how to install and configure a dhcp server on Ubuntu Server 12.04 LTS.

The first thing we need to do is install the packages we need.  Open up a terminal and type:

sudo apt-get install isc-dhcp-server

There are two main files /etc/default/isc-dhcp-server and /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf which we will need to configure so lets take the first.  Open up a terminal and using your favourite text editor type:

sudo nano /etc/default/isc-dhcp-server

You should get the following:

———————————————————————————————–

# Defaults for dhcp initscript
# sourced by /etc/init.d/dhcp
# installed at /etc/default/isc-dhcp-server by the maintainer scripts

#
# This is a POSIX shell fragment
#

# On what interfaces should the DHCP server (dhcpd) serve DHCP requests?
# Separate multiple interfaces with spaces, e.g. “eth0 eth1?.
INTERFACES=”eth0″

————————————————————————————————–

Replace eth0 above with the name of your network interface that you want the server to lease addresses on.

Onto the next file. Open up a terminal and type:

sudo nano /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf

which should give you the output below.

————————————————————————————————-

#
# Sample configuration file for ISC dhcpd for Debian
#
# Attention: If /etc/ltsp/dhcpd.conf exists, that will be used as
# configuration file instead of this file.
#
#

# The ddns-updates-style parameter controls whether or not the server will
# attempt to do a DNS update when a lease is confirmed. We default to the
# behavior of the version 2 packages (‘none’, since DHCP v2 didn’t
# have support for DDNS.)
ddns-update-style none;

# option definitions common to all supported networks…
option domain-name “example.org”;
option domain-name-servers ns1.example.org, ns2.example.org;

option domain-name “comtech.com”;
default-lease-time 600;
max-lease-time 7200;

# If this DHCP server is the official DHCP server for the local
# network, the authoritative directive should be uncommented.
#authoritative;

# Use this to send dhcp log messages to a different log file (you also
# have to hack syslog.conf to complete the redirection).
log-facility local7;

# No service will be given on this subnet, but declaring it helps the
# DHCP server to understand the network topology.

#subnet 10.152.187.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
#}

# This is a very basic subnet declaration.

subnet 10.0.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 10.0.0.150 10.0.0.253;
option routers 10.0.0.2;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;

option broadcast-address 10.0.0.254;
option domain-name-servers 10.0.0.1, 10.0.0.2;

option ntp-servers 10.0.0.1;
option netbios-name-servers 10.0.0.1;
option netbios-node-type 8;
}

# option routers rtr-239-0-1.example.org, rtr-239-0-2.example.org;

#}

# This declaration allows BOOTP clients to get dynamic addresses,
# which we don’t really recommend.

#subnet 10.254.239.32 netmask 255.255.255.224 {
# range dynamic-bootp 10.254.239.40 10.254.239.60;
# option broadcast-address 10.254.239.31;
# option routers rtr-239-32-1.example.org;
#}

# A slightly different configuration for an internal subnet.
#subnet 10.5.5.0 netmask 255.255.255.224 {
# range 10.5.5.26 10.5.5.30;
# option domain-name-servers ns1.internal.example.org;
# option domain-name “internal.example.org”;
# option routers 10.5.5.1;
# option broadcast-address 10.5.5.31;
# default-lease-time 600;
# max-lease-time 7200;
#}

# Hosts which require special configuration options can be listed in
# host statements. If no address is specified, the address will be
# allocated dynamically (if possible), but the host-specific information
# will still come from the host declaration.

#host passacaglia {
# hardware ethernet 0:0:c0:5d:bd:95;
# filename “vmunix.passacaglia”;
# server-name “toccata.fugue.com”;
#}

# Fixed IP addresses can also be specified for hosts. These addresses
# should not also be listed as being available for dynamic assignment.
# Hosts for which fixed IP addresses have been specified can boot using
# BOOTP or DHCP. Hosts for which no fixed address is specified can only
# be booted with DHCP, unless there is an address range on the subnet
# to which a BOOTP client is connected which has the dynamic-bootp flag
# set.
#host fantasia {
# hardware ethernet 08:00:07:26:c0:a5;
# fixed-address fantasia.fugue.com;
#}

# You can declare a class of clients and then do address allocation
# based on that. The example below shows a case where all clients
# in a certain class get addresses on the 10.17.224/24 subnet, and all
# other clients get addresses on the 10.0.29/24 subnet.

#class “foo” {
# match if substring (option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 4) = “SUNW”;
#}

#shared-network 224-29 {
# subnet 10.17.224.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
# option routers rtr-224.example.org;
# }
# subnet 10.0.29.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
# option routers rtr-29.example.org;
# }
# pool {
# allow members of “foo”;
# range 10.17.224.10 10.17.224.250;
# }
# pool {
# deny members of “foo”;
# range 10.0.29.10 10.0.29.230;
# }
#}

————————————————————————————————

This needs a little bit of explaining.

1. Everything in bold needs adding to the file.  Adjust your settings according to your network requirements.

2. The option domain name is your dns zone name.  For example mine is set to comtech.com.

3. Range should be the range of ip addresses that you want the server to give out to clients.

Now restart the dhcp service by typing:

sudo service isc-dhcp-server restart

Thats it!! Your dhcp server should be running, however it is best to check.  Open up a terminal and type:

sudo netstat -uap

which will show you the following information:

————————————————————————————————

Active Internet connections (servers and established)

Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State PID/Program name

udp 0 0 *:55827 *:* 916/avahi-daemon: r
udp 0 0 chris-desktop.lo:domain *:* 1273/named
udp 0 0 chris-desktop:domain *:* 1273/named
udp 0 0 *:bootps *:* 4525/dhcpd
udp 0 0 *:17500 *:* 1768/dropbox
udp 0 0 *:54407 *:* 4539/VirtualBox
udp 0 0 10.0.0.255:netbios-ns *:* 1016/nmbd
udp 0 0 chris-deskto:netbios-ns *:* 1016/nmbd
udp 0 0 *:netbios-ns *:* 1016/nmbd
udp 0 0 10.0.0.255:netbios-dgm *:* 1016/nmbd
udp 0 0 chris-deskt:netbios-dgm *:* 1016/nmbd
udp 0 0 *:netbios-dgm *:* 1016/nmbd
udp 0 0 *:mdns *:* 916/avahi-daemon: r
udp6 0 0 [::]:domain [::]:* 1273/named
udp6 0 0 [::]:51853 [::]:* 916/avahi-daemon: r
udp6 0 0 [::]:mdns [::]:* 916/avahi-daemon: r

————————————————————————————————

This shows that the dhcp daemon is working

About the Author

P1020114

Hi I’m Chris Wakefield the owner of ComTech IT Support. I provide Windows, Mac and Linux based IT Support to small businesses in Stirling, Alloa and Falkirk.

Follow @Comtech247 on Twitter

 

 

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