Configuring DHCP Options: Learned lessons

I generally only configure a handful of DHCP options when working with a DHCP server… However, I was curious about the rest and which were used by other people beyond DNS and Gateway/Router. So below are some of the other options that are also generally used and what I learned about them:

DHCP Options for Network Time Server:

While working with the servers at the company having a reliable time server to have all systems synchronized is important. So, seeing options in the DHCP Server that can help us manage the NTP source in our Ubuntu machines sounded interesting. But… we came across two options: Option 004 and Option 042. Reading the descriptions makes it very confusing as option 004 says “Time Server” and 042 reads “NTP”. So… what gives? what’s the difference? Well, according to a quick google search:

Option 004 specifies servers that provide TIME/ITP (as per RFC 868). This is not a recommended protocol/service in a Windows environment.

Option 042 specifies servers that provide NTP/SNTP (RFC 1769). This is the preferred time service in a Windows environment (assuming the absence of Active Directory which maintains the time on your behalf).