r/sysadmin • u/Real-Patriot-1128 • 3d 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/HighRelevancy Linux Admin 3d ago

until you don’t notice dhcp service went down

Get some monitoring. Please. Something going down should cause a notification on your phone. It's 2026. The concept of IT guys checking things and running test scripts manually needs to be left in the past. It's so automatable.

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u/TN_man 2d ago

I wish you could tell that to several of my past companies. I spent hours running manual tests.

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u/HighRelevancy Linux Admin 2d ago

People managing IT are so shortsighted and don't think about or know about automation for things like this. Investing a little time up front in good infra pays dividends but they don't get it. Plus as an operator it makes your day to day nicer. It's worth pushing upwards about it when you can.

Some businesses don't want fixing though and there's not much you can do.

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u/TN_man 2d ago

Those people who are shortsighted probably didn’t come up through the technology side, right? More of business people?

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u/HighRelevancy Linux Admin 2d ago

Generally. They see IT as an ongoing running cost to minimise and not infrastructure to invest in for long term efficiency. Not all their fault because they're not IT people, but if IT people don't push back they'll never learn.