Microsoft DHCP Integration

Customer Preview

The Microsoft DHCP integration is currently in customer preview and is not yet generally available. Contact support@netboxlabs.com to join the preview.

Overview

The Microsoft DHCP integration discovers scopes, exclusion ranges, reservations, and optionally leases from a Windows Server DHCP Server and ingests them into NetBox via the Diode pipeline. DHCP scopes are mapped to NetBox prefixes with full scope metadata stored as custom fields. Exclusion ranges are mapped to IP ranges. Reservations are always synced as IP addresses; lease synchronization is opt-in and limited to specific scopes.

What Gets Synchronized

• Prefixes - one per DHCP scope, with scope metadata stored as custom fields
• IP Ranges - one per exclusion range within each scope
• IP Addresses - from DHCP reservations (always) and leases (opt-in, per-scope)

Technical Info

For full details of Microsoft DHCP to NetBox object and attribute mappings, see the Technical Info section.

Key Features

• Scope-to-prefix mapping - each DHCP scope is ingested as a NetBox prefix, flagged as a pool and marked as utilized, with scope name, state, address range, lease duration, and scope options stored as custom fields
• Exclusion range tracking - DHCP exclusion ranges within each scope are ingested as NetBox IP ranges
• Reservation sync - DHCP reservations are ingested as IP addresses with status reserved
• Opt-in lease sync - DHCP leases are synced as IP addresses with status dhcp only for explicitly configured scopes; reservations always take precedence over leases for the same address
• Scope options - per-scope DHCP option values (DNS servers, lease time, router, etc.) are stored as JSON in the msft_dhcp_options custom field
• WinRM connectivity - connects to the Windows DHCP Server over WinRM using NTLM authentication; no agent software is required on the target server
• NetBox Assurance integration - discovered data is staged as deviations in NetBox Assurance for review before being written to NetBox
• Bootstrap mode - creates required custom fields in NetBox before the first full sync

Integration Architecture

The Microsoft DHCP integration is built using the NetBox Labs controller integrations framework:

• Standardized integration pattern - consistent approach across all controller integrations
• NetBox Assurance integration - uses NetBox Assurance for safe data ingestion and deviation management
• Agent based - runs as part of the NetBox Discovery agent ecosystem using the Orb Agent Pro image
• One-way sync - data flows from Microsoft DHCP Server to NetBox only; no changes are written back to the DHCP server

Compatibility

Supported NetBox Versions

• NetBox Cloud and NetBox Enterprise v4.2.3 and later with NetBox Assurance

Supported Windows Server Versions

• Windows Server with the DHCP Server role installed and WinRM enabled