AllowDNSQuery goes along with the built-in DNS functionality. A client who performs DNS queries that is not known to the DHCP Server (not in the ini file) can get a default IP address returned regardless of the name it wants to resolve. This is a security feature that limits the DNS function to known clients. Since V1.9.3 AllowDNSQuery defines this behavior on a per client basis. If AllowDNSQuery is set to 1 then the client can resolve names to IP addresses with DNS queries. If AllowDNSQuery is set to 0 then whatever is configured as DEFAULTIPADDR is returned for every name.

Please assume the following INI file:

[General]
...
AllowDNSQuery=0
...

[DNS-Settings]
EnableDNS=1
DEFAULTIPADDR=192.168.0.1

[00-00-00-00-00-01]
IPADDR=192.168.0.10
Hostname=Computer_1

[00-00-00-00-00-02]
IPADDR=192.168.0.11
Hostname=Computer_2
AllowDNSQuery=1

In this example, only Computer_2 will be able to resolve DNS queries to the real IP addresses. Computer_1 will observe that regardless of the name he wants to resolve, he will always get 192.168.0.1 in return.

The influence of AllowDNSQuery to the behavior is such that, whenever DEFAULTIPADDR is set, the DEFAULTIPADDR is returned when the requester is unknown (not listed in the INI file) or AllowDNSQuery is 0.

WPAD=http://server.domain/config.pac

Location of a proxy server (Web Proxy Auto Detection) used by Internet browsers to automatically detect proxy settings.

WINS_0=123.4.56.78
…
WINS_9=192.168.2.1

This entry sets the IP address of the WINS servers. You can setup up the 10 WINS servers using the entries WINS_0 to WINS_9.

SUBNETMASK=255.255.255.0

The subnet mask is usually common to all clients and should be placed in the general section. This has to be the same as the subnet mask of the server machine that is setup in your network settings.

Specifying the Router / Gateway

ROUTER_0=123.4.56.78
…
ROUTER_9=192.168.2.1

This entry sets the IP address of the router or standard gateway. You can setup up to 10 routers by using the entries ROUTER_0 to ROUTER_9.

NODETYPE=8  ; Default: 8

Default: 8, which means hybrid. I’ve never used something else than 8.

IP address of the “next server”.

NEXTSERVER=123.45.6.7

This is typically used to specify a TFTP server in the BOOTP protocol.

“ClientPC” is send to the client as the hostname entry in the DHCP options.

NAME=ClientPC

This is supposed to be the name of the client machine. This entry doesn’t work with Windows clients, because they do not change the computer name.

Lease time in seconds (decimal value).

LEASETIME=3600 ; 1 hour
Default: infinite

E.g. 86400 is the lease time for 1 day. Default is an infinite lease. The actual lease period for the clients IP address is the minimum of the configured LEASETIME and the lease duration the client is asking for.

LeaseEnd is specified as number of seconds since midnight (00:00:00), January 1, 1970 and defines the time at which this particular IP address expires.

LeaseEnd=1198953446

This entry is automatically created by the DHCP Server.
Lease times are important when a client requests an IP address and all addresses in the IP pool are already assigned to other clients. In that case the client whose lease time (LeaseEnd) has expired least recently is deleted from the INI file and the available IP address is used for the request.

Specifying the IP Address.

IPADDR=192.168.10.11

This is the IP address that has to be assigned to the client. This is the most important entry in the client section. Since V2.6.0 you can set the IPADDR=0.0.0.0 to black list a client to prevent the client device to get an IP address assigned.

This entry should define the domain name that is send to the client machine. This is in most cases the name of the domain or workgroup that your server machine is in.

DOMAINNAME=mydomain

This entry sets the IP address of the DNS server. You can setup up to 10 DNS servers.

DNS_0=123.4.56.78
…
DNS_9=192.168.2.1

Defining the BOOTFILE.

BOOTFILE=bootimage.bin

A string that typically defines the boot file which is fetched from a TFTP server by the client.

This entry marks a client section as being created by the DHCP Server (auto configuration). Don’t touch it.

AutoConfig=12/29/2007_18:37:26