Unit 1 Assignment 1: Windows 2008 Network Services Most networks out there will take advantage of DNS and DHCP services. These services make managing a network an easier task for the administrator. While they are not always required for a network to function, most cases they will be used. Knowing what these services do will help the administrator determine if they are required for the network. DNS stands for Domain Name System. What this service does is help convert IP addresses into names easily remembered by the user. Instead of having to remember an IP address for every device on the network an administrator could set up DNS so names can be assigned to all the devices. Most users will find remembering a name easier than trying to recall a string for 12 numbers.
DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. What DHCP does is assign IP addresses to devices. Without DHCP an administrator would have to assign IP addresses to each device on the network. Maybe in a small network this wouldn’t be a problem, but a network with more than 10 devices this may become a large task for one person. DHCP can be configured with a range of IP addresses for a network and it will assign each device an address that is not being used. It keeps track of what devices are using IP addresses and which ones are not.
Knowing how each of these services work will help an administrator decide if they want to use them. In a network with say 5 devices the administrator may want to manually assign each device an IP address. But in a large network with 100+ devices this would take forever and have a lot of room for errors to happen. Using these services help prevent mistakes being made and relieve the administrator of some work. With these services all the administrator has to do is provide the range of IP addresses and names for the devices. Once the information is provided the devices