DHCP Scope Address Allocation

A DHCP scope is a range of IP addresses that the DHCP server can automatically assign to devices on a network. When designing scopes, you need to calculate the correct address pool for each subnet based on network segmentation. Exclusions remove specific addresses from the pool so they are never handed out dynamically, which prevents conflicts with statically assigned devices such as routers or printers. The scope effectively defines the boundaries of what the server can give out, and exclusions carve out addresses that must stay fixed.