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Implement DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

Dimitris Tonias by Dimitris Tonias
February 22, 2018 - Updated on April 28, 2024
in Management
Reading Time: 8 mins read
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By using Failover on the DHCP Server, we share the load between the two servers with load balancing and provide fault tolerance. Thus, even if one of the two DHCP servers is not online, the clients continue to be served by the second server.

The DHCP Failover can be configured with two basic modes.

  • Load Balance Mode, where both DHCP servers are active simultaneously, and the load is shared between them.
  • Hot Standby Mode, where one DHCP server is active (as primary) and the other is passive (as secondary) so that when the primary is unavailable, the secondary is automatically enabled.

These two modes can be applied at the DHCP Scope level, for each scope separately, or at the Server level for all Scopes.

Configure DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

To implement this scenario, we will assume that we have two DHCP servers, DC01 and DC02, which are also DCs and DNS servers. These extra roles are not required, though.

We assume that the DHCP role has been installed on the two servers and the appropriate Scopes have been configured on one DHCP server.

DHCP Failover – Load Balance Mode

Open the DHCP console, right-click IPv4, and then click Configure Failover.

Implement DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

In the window that will appear, you will see the list of available Scopes you can set for failover. Select all is turned on by default, you can turn it off and select only those you want to configure. Click Next to continue.

Implement DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

Click the Add Server button to select the second DHCP server from the list of authorized DHCP servers or type the hostname or IP address in the corresponding field and click Next to continue.

Implement DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

In the next step, you’ll need to go through some settings.

  • In the Relationship Name field, type a name for the specific “relationship” of the two servers.
  • In the Mode field, select Load Balance.
  • In the Load Balance Settings field, select the load percent of each server to share.
  • In the State Switchover Interval field, you can leave it blank. This setting is used for Hot Standby mode.
  • In the Enable Message Authentication field, you can enable it if desired, and then enter a password in the Shared Secret field. This password is used to authenticate messages sent between the two servers participating in DHCP Failover.

Click Next to continue.

Implement DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

Finally, click Finish to complete the Failover setup.

Implement DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

Immediately after, the corresponding progress window will appear, and if everything went well, you will see the Configure failover successful message.

Implement DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

DHCP Failover – Hot Standby Mode

The steps to configure Hot Standby mode are the same as those described above, but we’ll only stop at the last step that is a bit different.

  • In the Relationship Name field, type a name for the specific “relationship” of the two servers.
  • In the Mode field, select Hot Standby.
  • In the Hot Standby Settings field, select the percentage of addresses that the standby server will reserve.
  • In the State Switchover Interval field, select the time that will be required until the status of the DHCP Server change from passive to active.
  • In the Enable Message Authentication field, you can enable it if desired, and then enter a password in the Shared Secret field. This code authenticates messages sent between the two servers participating in DHCP Failover.

Click Next to continue.

Implement DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

Immediately after, the corresponding progress window will appear and as everything went well you will see the Configure failover successful message.

Implement DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

View and edit DHCP Failover settings

So, after you have set up your DHCP Failover on your server, you may need to view how it was configured again and possibly edit some of its settings. This is done through the DHCP Properties window.

Right-click on IPv4 and then click Properties. In the window that opens, go to the Failover tab. Here, you can see the status of failover settings and edit and delete them.

Implement DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

Correspondingly, through the settings window of each DHCP Scope, you can view the failover settings for each Scope separately.

Implement DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

Force Scope and Relationship replication

If you’ve made changes to a server and want to force the replication from one partner server to another, then this is how it’s done.

To replicate Scope settings, right-click a Scope and then click Replicate Scope.

Implement DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

Correspondingly, to replicate the settings of all Scopes, right-click on IPv4 and then click Replicate Failover Scopes.

Implement DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

Finally, to replicate settings of all Scopes in a particular relationship, right-click on a Scope and then click Replicate Relationship.

In any case, the corresponding confirmation message will be displayed.

Implement DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

Remove (deconfigure) DHCP Failover

Removing DHCP Failover settings between two partner servers is very easy and fast, again at both server and Scope level.

To remove a DHCP Failover Scope, right-click on the Scope and then Deconfigure Failover.

Implement DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

You will need to confirm your action and then the corresponding message will be displayed.

Implement DHCP Failover in Windows Server 2016

Scopes and Relationships will be removed from the partner server when removing the DHCP Failover.

DHCP Failover via PowerShell

Of course, all of the above actions can be done through PowerShell. However, since DHCP Failover settings do not change often, it might have been quicker and easier to do it using the DHCP console instead of PowerShell’s advanced parameters. So, I will not focus more on this point, apart from mentioning the basic cmdlets.

  • Add-DhcpServerv4Failover
  • Add-DhcpServerv4FailoverScope
  • Get-DhcpServerv4Failover
  • Remove-DhcpServerv4Failover
  • Remove-DhcpServerv4FailoverScope
  • Set-DhcpServerv4Failover
  • Invoke-DhcpServerv4FailoverReplication

If you are interested, you can find more information about the parameters you will need in Microsoft documentation.

Tags: DHCPDHCP ServerWindows Server 2016
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Comments 9

  1. Jarren Breger says:
    7 years ago

    This perfectly explains everything. Great job! I was confused on why the scopes didn’t replicate over.

    Reply
  2. Denis says:
    6 years ago

    is it possible to replicate the scopes automatically when a change is made to a one dhcp server? in the dhcp load balancing mode, are the scopes automatically replicated?
    Thanks!!

    Reply
  3. rem says:
    6 years ago

    Hi,

    Thx for this topic.
    On 2012R2 server, we have a limiation of 31 failover relations.
    Is it the case on 2016 ?
    Thx

    Reply
    • Dimitris Tonias says:
      6 years ago

      To be honest I’m not quite sure about this. I can’t find any official reference from Microsoft that this limitation has changed in WS2016, so I assume that the limit is the same one with 2012R2 server.

      Reply
  4. Andrew Serekedde says:
    6 years ago

    Hi,
    Any chance you could share one write up on Data Deduplication. Thanks for the others. Helps alot.

    Reply
  5. Joel M says:
    6 years ago

    Thank you for the great article.
    One question I have, however; does the secondary DHCP server need to be authorized during this process? I didnt see it mentioned here, nor was it mentioned in any other articles I have seen…

    Reply
    • Dimitris Tonias says:
      6 years ago

      Yes, having a DHCP server authorized means that it can issue IP addresses to clients.

      Reply
  6. Jaquice Stone says:
    4 years ago

    Hi everyone. Is it possible to be alerted if Configure failover is not configured. Either by not allowing the configuration to finish or send an email if this setting is not made.

    Reply
  7. Jaquice says:
    2 years ago

    Hi guys so if I deconfigure and the scopes are removed from the failover server do those IP’s now failover to the primary?

    Reply

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