Hi
I look after a network with a single Win 2012 server acting as DC, DNS and DHCP server.
The DHCP server provides addresses in the range 192.168.1.1-254
192.168.1.1-119 are excluded to provide for printers, switches, WAPs, IP phones etc
192.168.1.245-254 are excluded to provide for remote dial in clients
I am getting warning messages in the event log that only 20 IP addresses remain for allocation.
I've not had to concern myself with this number of IP addresses on other networks I work with.
In order to get more IP addresses available can I simply extend the scope by changing the End IP address from 192.168.1.254 to 192.168.2.254 ?
If I do that in the scope properties but without hitting 'apply' as I don't want to screw anything up, the subnet mask (which is greyed out at 255.255.255.0 Length 24) does not change. Should the subnet mask be something other than 255.255.255.0 so that devices with 192.168.1.x addresses can see devices with 192.168.2.x addresses and vice versa?
OR...
Could I just add another scope of 192.168.2.1-254 which I then allocate using Reserved IP addresses to the VoIP phones / Tel Exchange on the network? If I do this, how do I stop a PC from being allocated a 192.168.2.x address which would give me the subnet mask problem mentioned above. Just limit the range for distribution to the physical number of VoiP devices? This seems a tad clunky?