VOIP Design Question in reference to DHCP

hitsontd1 · ‎09-14-2010

Background:

I have setup VOIP at 3 different remote sites connected via Layer 3 routing and single mode fiber. Each site has it's own voice gateway. I have it setup that the DHCP scopes for data and voice are received from our central data center offsite.

Question:

From a design standpoint, what is best practices in reference where the DHCP server for the voice vlan should be located? i.e. When voice phones request an IP address they are having to go out via Layer 3 and get the address via the DHCP server located off site.

Issue:

If the remote site were to lose power and network connectivity thus losing a way to the DHCP server that is off site. If power were restored without network connectivty the phones will not be able to get an address to be able to reach the local voice gateway.

Thank you for any and all help!

Travis

Joseph Martini · ‎09-21-2010

You'll always want to remove single points of failure so having a local DHCP server for each site would be a good idea so that even if the WAN connection is down the phones can get addresses.

Matthew Kaufman · ‎09-22-2010

You can configure your voice gateway with the local DHCP scope, that way DHCP is significant to the local site. This would provide you with DHCP functionality should you loose your WAN connections.

--Matt