BeginnerPublished 2026-07-20
CCNA Foundations: DHCP on IOS — Pools, Exclusions & Leases
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CCNA exam domain: IP Services
Turn a branch router into a DHCP server for a user LAN. You'll design a clean pool with exclusions, set the default gateway and DNS server, and verify a host lease and end-to-end reachability across a small routed core.
Learning objectives
- Configure an IOS router as a DHCP server with a properly scoped address pool
- Reserve infrastructure IPs with ip dhcp excluded-address
- Provide default-router and dns-server options to clients
- Verify DHCP bindings and troubleshoot leases from the router
- Validate end-to-end connectivity from a DHCP client to a remote server via static routing
Troubleshooting focus
- Client does not receive an IP: check LAN interface is up/up and in the correct subnet; confirm a DHCP pool exists and matches the interface network/mask
- Pool exhausted or all addresses excluded: ensure the excluded-address range leaves free addresses for clients
- Client receives an IP but no DNS: verify the pool offers the intended dns-server and the address is reachable
- Client receives an IP but cannot reach remote server: verify static routes on both routers and ARP/ICMP from each hop
Topology
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How this lab is graded
- Build it your way. Where a lab lets you choose a value — a VLAN name, an interface description — grading checks that you configured it, not which name you picked. Names that another line has to reference, like an ACL applied with
access-class, are stated in the guide and do have to match. - Addresses, modes and protocol keywords are exact. An IP address, a subnet mask,
switchport mode trunk, an encapsulation — these carry the meaning of the lab, so they are graded as written in the guide. - Grading reads your saved configuration. Export the lab from CML after you have configured it, and make sure anything you set is in the
running-config— a change that only exists in a terminal session never reaches the grader. - You can submit as many times as you like. Your best score stands, and each attempt tells you which checks passed so you can work the gaps.
- Scored something you believe is correct? Use Report an issue on this page — that is exactly how the grading fixes in the changelog got found.
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