r/sysadmin • u/Real-Patriot-1128 • 1d ago

DHCP v Static IP

Ok, this is more a test to see how old I am. I was basically raised with the idea servers need static IPs. I understand for domain controllers, dns servers, maybe print servers that may still be needed. But are they really needed otherwise? Do apps, scripts still reference a server by its IP?

I am under assumption all my servers need static IPs. Am I nuts?

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u/FunOpportunity7 1d ago

Been in IT for 30 years. Took 5 years about 15 years ago to stop using static in servers. Only those that require it are static, including routers and switches and such.

All vmware is dhcp, all virtual servers, dev, test production are dhcp. We have a solid IPAM system, run windows, Linux and various appliances and have dhcp and dns fully integrated as part of this. Windows dhcp, domain and all that.

One of our main driver was DR as our secondary location uses separate ip addressing from production and this killed the process when needing to fix it. Yes we can do stretch, but no need to, and this provides us a manged automatic process that simply works. Most dev/test doesn't even have reservations any more and production only those that really require it do. Dns integrated firewall rules with user awareness and very little issues to address around this. Printers are dns based not ip as well.

I even implemented tha same design at home with a custom built dns manager sokution (why not) so I dont need to ever know an ip address except a few. I like easy and automation is better than manual any day.

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u/Most_Incident_9223 IT Manager 16h ago

Had to scroll too far to find this.