KnowledgeBase Archive

An Archive of Early Microsoft KnowledgeBase Articles

View on GitHub

Q189009: DHCP Reservations Show an Expiration Date

Article: Q189009
Product(s): Microsoft Windows NT
Version(s): 4.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): 
Last Modified: 05-JUN-2002

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SYMPTOMS
========

When a DHCP database becomes corrupted, it may be necessary to rebuild the
database from the registry.

For additional information, please see the following article in the Microsoft
Knowledge Base:

  ARTICLE-ID: Q173396
  TITLE : How to Restore a Corrupted DHCP Database File

After doing the reconcile, when you view the properties for a client lease, the
computer name will be listed as the IP address of the lease and an arbitrary
hexadecimal value will be listed as the client identifier. These will be
replaced with the appropriate information as the clients renew their leases.

You will also notice that reservations now have a lease expiration. Normally,
reservations should have "Infinite" for Lease Expires: under Client Properties
(or N/A if the client has never actually leased the reserved IP address).

The lease expiration date will also be reseated back to Infinite when the client
renews its IP address.

There is one scenario when this does not happen.

If you go to Active Leases, double-click the reservation and select OK to exit,
the following message will be displayed:

  The Unique Identifier you have entered may not be correct. Do you want to use
  this Identifier anyway?

If you select Yes, the client will NOT get its reserved IP address. Instead it
will get the next available IP address from the scope.

To prevent clients from recieving IP addresses before the DHCP server completes
the reconciliation process, you must take the DHCP server off the network prior
to rebuilding the database. If you leave the DHCP server on the network, this
behavior may occur.

RESOLUTION
==========

This problem can be fixed by going back to the reservation before the client
renews and replacing the arbitrary hexadecimal value listed as the client Unique
Identifier with the media access control address for the client.

If you try to change the hexadecimal value after the client has already renewed
and received a different IP address, you will get the following error:

  An error occurred while accessing the DHCP database; look at the DHCP server
  event log for more information

You will also receive the following message in Event Viewer:

  Event ID   : 1014
  Source     : JET
  Description: The JET Database call returned the following Error: -1605.

This happens because the client media access control address is already in the
database.

At this point, you can release the IP address from the client side (Ipconfig.exe
/RELEASE on Windows NT or Winipcfg.exe and select Release on Windows 95), and
enter the media access control address to the reservation again. The client will
be able to lease its reservation now.

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT Version 4.0. We are
researching this problem and will post additional information here in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

Additional query words:

======================================================================
Keywords          :  
Technology        : kbWinNTsearch kbWinNT400search kbWinNTSsearch kbWinNTS400search kbWinNTS400
Version           : :4.0
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbpending

=============================================================================

THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.