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Chase Florell
Asked: 2010-01-25 18:36:14 +0800 CST

Need a free DNS and DHCP Server that's easy to manage (Windows Server 2008)

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I'm currently running Server 2003 Standard in my home network. I use its DHCP and DNS services for my home network.

I just signed up for the Microsoft Website Spark program where I get a free copy of Windows Server 2008 Web Edition (does not support DNS or DHCP out of the box afaik)

I really want to upgrade to Server 2008 simply because I'm now developing solely in IIS7, which renders my 2003 server useless.

Can anyone suggest a free DNS server and a free DHCP server that's worth looking at?

PS: I'm currently considering Power DNS unless anyone has suggestions otherwise.

windows-server-2008 domain-name-system dhcp

3 Answers

  1. I'm going to go way out on a limb here but if you need a "free" dns and dhcp server and you have an extra computer you should try Ubuntu Server. Set up Bind as the DNS server and a dhcp server by running the following commands:

    sudo apt-get install dhcp3-server
sudo apt-get install bind9

    Of course you'll also need to do a little work installing Ubuntu Server but it's really very straight forward. Burn an install disk and boot your computer. It'll walk you through all the steps.

    Set your server up with a static address by editing the following file:

    sudo nano /etc/network/interface

    Put something like this in the file (remove everything else)

    # The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0

address some.ip.add.ress
netmask 255.255.255.240
gateway you.r.gate.way
dns-server 208.67.222.222

    Note that the DNS server listed above is for opendns. Replace it with your own once you have bind set up.

    We use a Windows 2008 server for both DHCP and DNS but our Ubuntu servers work great as secondaries and could really work as primaries if we needed them to.

    See this site for help on DHCP:

    http://www.linuxtopia.org/online_books/system_administration_books/ubuntu_starter_guide/ch07s04.html

    And this one for DNS:

    http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=236093

    So it's free as in no cash for licenses but you'll pay for it in a bit of well spent time.

    You have three basic tasks listed above plus two config files. Five items. Nothing more.

    Hope I've talked you into it.

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  2. Best Answer

    Do you have a valid license for Windows Server 2003? If so, why not keep using it for DNS and DHCP? You could run it inside a VM on Windows Serve 2008 WE?

    As long as the VM host has a static IP and does not depend on the DHCP services offered by the VM you should be good to go.

    As an aside: is there anything in particular you require to run customised versions of DHCP and DNS that your router couldn't provide?

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  3. It's not free but I really love simpledns. We've been using it for years and it's easy to use, stable and reasonably priced. Starts at 79 bucks. (We have a lot of sites so I use the unlimited version.)

    http://www.simpledns.com/pricing.aspx

    I havent had any hacking problems unlike my bind friends (tho they are mostly slackers who rarely update :) )

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