Penn State DHCP Uptime at 100 Percent in Spite of Network Device Explosion

• By Dian Schaffhauser
• 04/14/08

The Pennsylvania State University recently said its DHCP server, in operation for four years, has maintained 100 percent network service uptime. Most desktops, laptops, VoIP phones, and mobile systems rely on dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) servers to provide IP addresses that enable those devices to connect to the network.

The school, which serves 90,000 students in 23 locations around the state, deployed Dynamic Configuration Server, the DHCP server from Nominum.

"Our students, faculty and staff have high expectations when it comes to voice service availability and consistent wireless connectivity across campus. To deliver consistent VoIP dial tone and connectivity, we needed a DHCP infrastructure that could provide continuous service while surviving single server failure," said Bill Simon, systems engineer for Penn State. "We are pleased that for the past four years, Nominum DCS exceeded our uptime expectations while easily handling the growing load driven by the exploding use of VoIP and wireless services on our campus."

The school said in a statement that installing DCS was a simple drop and replace of the prior DHCP solution on the same hardware. It had selected the Nominum solution after an evaluation of options in 2004.