I would advise against using the Alternate Configuration tab. This IS static IP addressing. If the client is looking at the router for DNS resolution, they will only be able to resolve external addresses as the router forwards DNS requests to the ISP. Also, Active Directory CANNOT be separated from DNS. If the clients don't resolve DNS requests against the DNS server that is authoritative for the zone, then they will not authenticate against the server and security will be whacked (to state it simply). In addition, Microsoft DNS can be dynamically updated. By using DHCP to assign addresses, DNS will be updated with the host information automatically. By using static IP addressing, you're completely missing the point of DHCP. Its entire function is to make addressing and TCP/IP host configuration easy. This is how I configured my home network: 1. Turn off the router's DHCP function. 2. Configure DHCP on your server. Create a scope with the start address of 192.168.1.2, end address of 192.168.1.254, subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, DNS server address 192.168.1.2, router (default gateway) address of 192.168.1.1. Create an exclusion range for those devices that require static addressing such as servers, routers, ethernet printers, and etc. 192.168.1.2 - 192.168.1.9. Set your lease duration. Addresses will become available if they have not been renewed before the expiration, but hosts will renew in half the time. If you have many temporary hosts on your network, and your scope has few addresses available, then a shorter lease is recommended. If you have few temporary hosts and/or plenty of addresses, then a longer lease is better and will reduce network traffic. 3. Configure Local Area Connection TCP/IP properties: Set IP=192.168.1.2, DNS Server=192.168.1.2 4. Promote server to primary domain controller allowing dcpromo.exe to configure DNS for your zone. (Best to use home.mydomain.com. See quite) 5. Configure Local Area Connection TCP/IP properties: DNS Server=192.168.1.1 6. Configure DNS Server to use Forwarders. Enter the DNS server addresses provided by your ISP. DO NOT use the router's IP address. (slower performance) 7. Configure Local Area Connection TCP/IP properties: DNS Server=192.168.1.2 (This temporary change is necessary to allow forwarders. If a W2K server looks to itself for DNS resolution, you will not be able to turn on forwarders. 8. Configure all clients to use DHCP. Microsoft's DNS is great in that it will cache requests. If it receives a request it cannot resolve, it will forward that request to your ISP's DNS server. Before it passes the results back to you, it caches it. The next time you make the request, your DNS server will be able to respond to your request itself. You'll notice faster load times as a result of decreased traffic over your internet connection. If you want to make sure that the addresses of certain workstations stay the same, don't use static IP addressing; configure reservations in your DHCP server. You'll just need the MAC address of the host you wish to reserve an address for. Then, you can use port forwarding in your router. DHCP makes IP address administration much easier. Changes in network configuration are made centrally instead of at each workstation. If you add a workstation to the network, they have network functionality immediately. Using Microsoft's DHCP server allows other things like Remote Installation Services, which can also be quite handy. DHCP can help prevent wireless pirates from stealing bandwidth. If all of your addresses are reserved, and they can't get an IP address on the subnet, then they can't steal bandwidth or hack your network.
