A subnet on a DHCP server can contain pools of IP addresses reserved for dynamic host address allocation. When an IPAM block on NameSurfer is bound to a DHCP server, there will be either support for a single pool of several IP ranges, or several separate pools containing different ranges. When several pools are supported, these individual pools may also be configured with custom attributes that can be edited by accessing the respective DHCP server with the Remote Servers module.

Single address pool support

If the bound DHCP server type doesn't support use of several separate pools - or NameSurfer doesn't know how this support works - only a single pool is available and it is presented as a section of the DHCP Bindings tab, where the user can add new IP ranges to the pool using addresses that are currently not in use in the block, or remove existing ranges by selecting them from the range list.

The DHCP Bindings tab allows users to view the DHCP server binding status of the block. An existing binding can be removed by clicking the "Remove binding" button. Optionally, you can keep the data on the DHCP server by ticking the checkbox labeled "Remove binding only, do not delete data on DHCP server".

New bindings can be made by selecting a DHCP server from a dropdown menu - which displays the DHCP servers currently available in the Remote Servers module - optionally adding the Subnet description and Subnet router address, and clicking the "OK" button.

The list also displays the currently existing dynamic ranges. New ranges can be added, and the host list can be resynchronised with the DHCP server.

The function for resynchronizing host list with DHCP server is located at the bottom of the DHCP Bindings tab.

Multiple address pool support

If NameSurfer is able to handle multiple separate IP address pools on a single subnet with the DHCP server bound to a block, a separate DHCP Address Pools tab will be present within the block's web user interface. In this case the DHCP Bindings tab displays a list of existing ranges which cannot be edited.

The DHCP Address Pools page displays the block's binding status to the respective DHCP server

To add a new pool, you must define the beginning and end of one range - presented either as two input fields or selectors on available addresses if the block is not too large. After choosing the appropriate values for the first range, click on Add pool button to create the new pool.

When editing an existing pool, you can choose existing ranges to remove by checking the checkbox next to the desired range, and add new ranges to the pool using the input fields or selectors beneath the list of existing ranges. To update a pool after changing the values, press the Update pool contents button for that pool - you can only edit one pool at a time, so you must submit the changes to one pool before proceeding to the next one if you are going to edit multiple pools.

To remove an entire pool, simply remove all existing ranges from it and the pool will disappear.

If custom configuration values are needed for the pool, use the subnet editor on remote servers module to add those entries.