XI. LAN

How to configure DHCP Server on VigorSwitch?

Products:

Show all

Keywords:

Show all

Many DrayTek layer 2+ VigorSwitches, such as the VigorSwitch P2280x, support DHCP server feature. It allows the switch to assign IP addresses to its local clients. It can be beneficial for the uplink between the core switch and your router. The allocation of IP addresses will still work, if the router is offline. In addition to the DHCP services, the Bind IP to MAC function is available to assign a static IP address for printers, servers, IP phones and other local devices.
These can be useful if we want to stop DHCP services on the router so that it can handle more important tasks.

This article demonstrates how to configure a DHCP Server on a VigorSwitch. The setup will be completed with the Bind IP to MAC feature setup.

It is important to check that a static IP address is configured on the switch first.

Navigate to [Switch LAN] > [General Setup] > [Management IP/VLAN] and set the Mode to 'Static'. Configure your static IP Address, Subnet Mask, and the Gateway IP which all should match with the IP range used on your router. In this example my router's LAN IP is 192.168.87.1. Hence the gateway address configured on the switch is the same.

It is also important to have DHCP services disabled on your router. Here is how to do this on the DrayTek Vigor routers.

Navigate to [LAN] > [General Setup] and open the Details Page
Under the DHCP Server Configuration section select 'Disable' and click OK to save the settings

Now your router does not provide DHCP services and should not conflict with a new server enabled on your VigorSwitch. Note that you may need to configure your computer with a static IP address as illustrated here so that access to the switch during the configuration process is available.

DHCP Server Setup on a VigorSwitch

1. Go to [Switch] > [VLAN Management] > [Create VLAN]

Select ADD as Action
Enter in the VLAN ID *
Enter in the VLAN name

* - note that VLAN ID is required and will allow your switch to offer DHCP services to ports that are part of defined VLAN ID kb vigorswitch mac vlan 01

2. Navigate to [VLAN Routing] > [Interface Settings]

Select the VLAN ID created in the previous step
Enter the description
Enter the IP address
Enter the Subnet Mask

kb vigorswitch mac vlan 02

3. In the [Switch LAN] > [DHCP Server Settings] section

Select the matching VLAN ID as Interface (VID)
Set Mode to Enable Server
Enter the Start IP address
Enter the IP Pool Counts
Enter the Gateway IP address
Click Apply

The DHCP Server Status should become green as illustrated below

kb vigorswitch mac vlan 05

VigorSwitch DHCP Server Test (optional)

4. The DHCP Server should be working. This can be tested with a computer connected to a selected port of our switch.

Go to [Switch LAN] > [VLAN Management] > [Interface Settings]

Select a testing port(s)
Set the Interface VLAN mode to Access
Enter the PVID of your DHCP-enabled network. We have used 100
Note that the VLAN ID 100 automatically populates as Untagged VLAN
Click Apply

kb vigorswitch mac vlan 06

You can capture the packets to confirm that the DHCP handshake has occurred. Below, our switch on 192.168.100.2 responds to the DHCP Discover packets and assigns an IP address to the computer.

kb vigorswitch dhcp server 06