DHCP: Serving Two Subnets from Two Pools

Bundle lab · $29.99

Build and verify two independent DHCP address pools on a single Cisco IOS router, each serving a different LAN. Two Alpine Linux clients obtain leases from their respective pools via directly attached access switches. You will configure the pools, excluded addresses, default gateways, DNS, and domain names, then verify with IOS show commands and Linux tools. The focus is deterministic router DHCP configuration; clients lease dynamically and are verified rather than graded.

Learning objectives

• Configure two independent DHCP pools on one router, each scoped to a different directly attached /24
• Exclude the gateway IP from each pool with ip dhcp excluded-address
• Set default-router, dns-server, domain-name, and lease options in each pool
• Verify pool utilization with show ip dhcp pool and show ip dhcp binding
• Validate Linux clients receive an address in the correct subnet and can reach their default gateway

Troubleshooting focus

• Pool network statements swapped or wrong mask cause clients to land in the wrong subnet or fail to lease
• Forgetting to exclude the default gateway address risks handing out the gateway IP
• Shutdown or wrong interface addressing prevents client broadcasts from reaching the correct pool
• DNS and domain options misconfigured; clients lease IPs but resolve fails (expected in an isolated lab)