Stealth gets DHCP health, keeps wealth

ApplianSys is pleased to announce that Stealth Broadband, Nebraska, USA, has chosen a DNSBOX solution to ensure reliable DHCP services for customers and ease DHCP management headaches.

The ISP provides a range of fibre-based internet services to both residential and business customers in rural Nebraska.

A dedicated DHCP server was critical to ensure services ran smoothly.  However, the Microsoft DHCP server initially used to handle client leases was problematic for Network Architect James Urwiller:

It wasn’t possible to limit how many IPs were leased to a single user.  With a limited IP pool, this meant a single user could hog many IPs for multiple devices – leaving others unable to connect

There was no record of lease history, making it difficult to administer DHCP

James considered running a Linux VM, but realised that reporting and logging would be extremely difficult and time-consuming using long text files.  “I wanted something that I could easily look up lease history with,” he says.

He then turned to specialist DNS, DHCP and IPAM (DDI) solutions.  The first one he looked at was too expensive and included unnecessary functionality.

Finally, he contacted ApplianSys to arrange an online tour of its DNSBOX solution. Thanks to its modular design, James was able to purchase just the DHCP functionality he needed, making it highly affordable and very easy to use.

For additional redundancy, he deployed a failover pair of DNSBOX200 DHCP servers.

“DNSBOX has similar features to other major DNS/DHCP/IPAM solutions, but at a better price,” he says.

DNSBOX Product Manager Magdelana Jovanovic comments: “In contrast to standard Microsoft or ISC DHCPd, DNSBOX makes it much easier to administer DHCP, make configuration changes and view lease history.  It also helps by limiting DHCP leases issued to any one user, giving James more control over his IP pool.”

“And for ISPs like Stealth Broadband that demand high availability, DHCP failover is very easy to set up and ensures these services are rock solid.”

About

Founded in 2016, Stealth Broadband is an Internet Service Provider based in Blair, Nebraska, USA. It uses Fiber Optics and Point to Multipoint wireless technologies to provide a range of internet services to rural communities in Northeast Nebraska.