When a DHCP Server responds to a client request for a lease, the server also responds with any configured options for the scope. Options are nothing more than bits of configuration information, such as the servers to use for name resolution, the default domain name, default router, etc. Some options may be specific to a particular scope (for example, the default router for a subnet) or may be more global (such as the default domain name). The former are called scope options and the latter are called server options.

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A scope is group of settings that define how the DHCP Server is supposed to handle requests for a given network.

Before creating scopes, decide how you are going to manage them. Develop a naming convention for the scopes that make them easy to identify their networks. Use good descriptions. You may want to add contact information to the description of a specific scope if there are certain people you need to contact when problems arise on that network (e.g., running out of leases). Use contiguous IP address space as much as possible and avoid using excluded IP ranges to keep a straightforward scope layout.

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