DHCP Servers

The Carnegie Mellon Network Group offers Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service for all computers on our campus network. This service provides a variety of functionality and is required for some machines to work properly. If you need to register a machine, you may use our online registration service.

Running your own DHCP service for any reason anywhere on our network is prohibited. If a rogue DHCP server is located, the machine will be removed from the network, and (if registered) its owner contacted.

A rogue DHCP server may hand out incorrect information to booting machines, and any machine that listens to this rogue DHCP server's offers will not function correctly. As this will cause users with properly configured machines to lose all network connectivity, running a DHCP server of your own is banned. To be sure that you do NOT accidentally turn on this service when installing the operating system:

Windows XP: Do NOT enable Internet Connection Sharing (i.e., Network Bridging) while connected to the campus network. Also, do NOT install the Microsoft DHCP Server or DHCP Relay Agent network services.

Mac OS X: Do NOT enable Internet Connection Sharing while connected to the campus network.

Linux / UNIX: Do NOT install DHCP server packages. Most distributions include a DHCP client, which you are encouraged to use.

Last Updated: 2/14/08