Monthly Archives: August 2014

What Is – DHCP

DHCP – Dynamic Host Control Protocol

This is a wonderful and time saving little protocol. You already know that every device on a network has to have an IP address…but…how do you configure all of those devices and their IP address? Well, you could do it manually. Once. Twice. Maybe several times. But you would quickly realize the manual way is a pain in the butt….there has to be an easier way! Well, there is. Enter DHCP.

When you turn on most devices, as they boot up, they send out a packet onto the network basically saying “Help…I’m booting up and I need an IP address. Can anyone help me?” And if you have a server (or other device) running a DHCP process, then the answer is yes. The DHCP server will reply with an IP address, and several other bits of needed information, and just like that…the device has an IP address and can start communicating on the network.
Isn’t that cool? I think it is. I will post more about DCHP in the near future and we will see exactly what goes on during a DHCP request.

Network Problems and Mondays – What Gives??

I just have to ask this question…what is it about computer networks and Monday mornings? I can’t believe how many times I have arrived to work on a Monday morning, and I already have one (or more) tickets assigned to me concerning network issues at various sites. Everything was working just fine Friday afternoon when I left. What happens over the weekend? Do little network gremlins invade my network over the weekend and create issues just to irritate me on Monday? I guess the answer is yes.

Today’s issue was at one of my companies temporary offices, housing just four workers. They were using a plain Internet circuit terminated on a Linksys firewall, and they couldn’t connect to the Internet or to the companies VPN. Since the office was close by, I ran over there and after a bit of sleuthing, found that the DHCP process had stopped working on the Linksys firewall. (It had stopped handing out IP addresses to the end users.) A reboot of the device solved that problem.

To Begin, One Must Take the First Step…

Greetings…

Welcome to my new technical blog for Network Engineers and those that are thinking about a career as a Network Engineer (or IT in general).  My desire is to…

  • Document my experiences as a Network Engineer, both for my use, and so that others may find answers to network related problems they may be having
  • Create a “Network 101” section which can help people better understand the basics of networks, and I hope will lead to better business decisions and two-way communication
  • Encourage the next generation of network engineers, both boys and girls!!  This is a great career, both in job satisfaction and monetary gain.  There is something new to learn almost everyday and you will never be bored.

I hope to post on a regular basis, at least every other day or so.  If you have any suggestions then by all means let me know.

Thanks!