DHCP Server

Automatic IP address assignment for network clients

🐧 Linux🍎 Mac🪟 Windows

Reviewed: 2026-06|Tested on: Kubernetes 1.29 · Terraform 1.8 · Ubuntu 22.04

What is this?

DHCP automatically assigns IP addresses to devices on your network so they can connect.

📁

Config files for DHCP Server

Where to create or edit the main configuration — paths below match the setup steps.

/etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf
Location: ISC DHCP server
Subnets, ranges, and options

📥

Step 01

Install DHCP Server

(01)Install ISC DHCP or dnsmasq

Linux

1# Option A — ISC DHCP (Ubuntu)
2sudo apt-get install -y isc-dhcp-server
3 
4# Option B — dnsmasq (lightweight, DNS+DHCP)
5sudo apt-get install -y dnsmasq
6 
7# RHEL / Fedora
8sudo dnf install -y dhcp-server

⚙️

Step 02

Configure DHCP

(01)ISC DHCP server config

Linux

1sudo nano /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf
2 
3# Example:
4default-lease-time 600;
5max-lease-time 7200;
6authoritative;
7 
8subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
9  range 192.168.1.100 192.168.1.200;
10  option routers 192.168.1.1;
11  option domain-name-servers 192.168.1.10, 8.8.8.8;
12  option domain-name "example.com";
13}
14 
15# Set interface in /etc/default/isc-dhcp-server:
16# INTERFACESv4="eth0"
17 
18sudo systemctl restart isc-dhcp-server

(02)dnsmasq DHCP + DNS combo

Linux

1sudo nano /etc/dnsmasq.conf
2 
3interface=eth0
4dhcp-range=192.168.1.100,192.168.1.200,255.255.255.0,12h
5dhcp-option=3,192.168.1.1
6dhcp-option=6,192.168.1.10
7domain=example.com
8 
9sudo systemctl restart dnsmasq

✅

Step 03

Verify DHCP

(01)Check leases

Linux

1cat /var/lib/dhcp/dhcpd.leases
2sudo journalctl -u isc-dhcp-server -f
3# On client: sudo dhclient -v eth0

⚡

Step 04

Manage DHCP

(01)Static reservations

Linux

1# In dhcpd.conf:
2host webserver {
3  hardware ethernet 00:11:22:33:44:55;
4  fixed-address 192.168.1.50;
5}
6 
7sudo systemctl restart isc-dhcp-server