Dhcp On The Server Or The Router

Hi,

Bit of a newcomer to Linux here.

I have just set-up a Linux server at home running SLES 10. Spec is:

Biostar K8M800 mainboard
2Gb RAM
Athlon 64 5000+ Dual Core
320 Gb Sata HD

The server is primarily for our new business, which we run from home. We would like to be able to access the server from remote locations while on the road (hotels, client offices etc.). Currently I have Samba set-up and running smoothly which allows our XP clients access and an LDAP server takes care of logins and authentication. Apart from my wife and myself accessing the server at home and on the road we would also need to allow other remote employees access to files. In an ideal world I'd run Linux on our laptops and our remote employee machines, but past experience with wireless networking and other issues makes me wary of doing this at the moment (one step at a time).

Access to the internet at home is via a router supplied by our telecoms company and currently DHCP services are run on the router.

My question is, would I be better placed having the Linux box run a DHCP server and turn off the services on the router, or should I leave it as is? I ask this because I have been told access to the server remotely is easier done if the server runs the DHCP services rather than the router. I have no idea if this is true... :unsure: I also assume I'd need to setup an dynamic DNS account with someone like DynDNS - is that correct?

I'm not sure how I am going to access the server remotely (still researching) but I need to have secure access to data files etc. The data we collect and use is confidential and must be kept very secure. Any pointers along that route would also be gratefully received. I'm even considering using a company to set this up for us. Are there any recommendations from any of the forum user base as to whom I might approach? I'm assuming I can give them remoter access to set-up the required services.

Many thanks in advance.
Paul

DHCP on your LAN has no bearing on remote access to services.

For a single subnet LAN, it doesn't matter much, you can use the DHCP server embedded in the router (which often runs Linux also) or set up your own on the server. Only when you want to do funky things like serve multiple subnets, or diskless booting, then the embedded DHCP server might run out of features.

To make your broadband address visible by domain name, you can get a dynamic DNS registrar. If you have a static address, as some DSL providers give out, then you could get away with entering the mapping in /etc/hosts (Linux) or lmhosts (Windows) on portable machines.