Is Lattice Microsoft DHCP failover?

No. There are no failover partners. There is no partner relationship to recreate. Paid HA is three Ubuntu VMs, one Postgres, one VIP. Discover on one node and Ack on another is the same pool.

Will Lattice import my Windows DHCP leases?

No. Dump scopes and reservations, map them, POST /api/v1. Live leases do not import. Failover partners do not come with you.

Do I have to move DNS off Active Directory?

No. Keep AD. A/PTR follow the grant into the zones you already run. Option 6 stays on the DNS the laptops already ask.

How do I cut over from Windows DHCP?

Dump scopes and reservations, map them, POST the catalog, point relays at Lattice, then turn off Windows DHCP.

Replace

Replace Windows DHCP

Keep Active Directory. Point Option 6 at the resolvers your laptops already use. Lattice replaces MMC scopes plus the used-IP sheet with one catalog — the reservation you save is the next Offer. Microsoft failover is a hashed pair; Lattice HA is the same pool on every node. Relays move to Lattice (or the VIP). DNS stays yours.

On-prem · Ubuntu tarball · Community: 1,000 managed IPs · No phone-home

Community is the install with no license file. A 30-day Starter trial is in the portal. List prices are on Pricing.

Today

The plan usually lives in a sheet (or phpIPAM). Offers still come from Windows, ISC, or Kea. You keep those stories aligned yourself.

Lattice

Prefixes, pools, reservations, and leases are one catalog. dhcpd serves those rows; the console writes them. There is no second copy to sync. A/PTR follow the grant into the DNS you already run — Ack does not wait on a nameserver.

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Cutover

Lattice does not parse Microsoft XML or live lease files. Dump scopes and reservations (PowerShell on Migrate), map them, POST /api/v1. Printers that must keep an IP become reservations. Live leases stay behind. Failover partners stay behind. On cutover day you change helper targets and stop new Offers on the old scope — usually one VLAN at a time.

Playbook: Migrate · HA is not Microsoft failover — three-node VIP.

A Tuesday after cutover

Windows keeps a plan in MMC and leases in another store. Lattice has one catalog, so Work can name the failure.

Helpdesk
Paste a MAC suffix → land on the lease.
Neteng
Work names the queue when something won’t grant (Relays, Why NAK, Wrong MAC) — no capture first, no primary to restart. Occupancy answers “who had .55 last Tuesday” as every remaining hold, as-of a day, CSV.

Windows DHCP compared with Lattice
Topic	Windows DHCP	Lattice
Plan and leases	Scope + spreadsheet	One catalog
Scale-out / failover	Hashed pair / split scope	Same pool on every node (Starter: extra dhcpd + three-node VIP). A 30-day Starter trial is in the portal.
Find a MAC	MMC or export	Console search
Who held this IP	Current lease or an export	Every hold. As-of a day. CSV.
DNS	Microsoft DNS (often)	A/PTR after Ack into DNS you keep
Cutover	Dump scopes/reservations → map → API (no XML/lease import)	Dump → map → API

What hurts in Windows DHCP

Scope in MMC, used IPs in a sheet

The reservation lives in one place. The grant lives in another. Helpdesk exports. dhcpd does not read the spreadsheet.

Failover is a hashed pair

Two servers, split scopes or Microsoft failover. That is not the same pool on every node. Discover on A and Ack on B is a problem, not the design.

Find a MAC in MMC

Per server. Per scope. Or an export you grep. The object is not one search.

Console search for Cisco suffix 0028.1001 hitting three live leases: sea-scan-020, sea-pc-020, sea-guest-020. — Last three octets are enough. Cisco dotted form works.

Work: named queues. Stale 9 — reservations with no lease or ping in ~90 days. Lattice does not auto-delete. — Work names the queue. Lattice never auto-reclaims.

What Lattice does

The reservation you save is the next Offer

Prefixes, subnets, pools, reservations, and leases are one catalog. dhcpd serves those rows.

Who held this IP

Occupancy is every remaining lease row. As-of a day. CSV. Windows is the current lease or an export.

History of 10.10.10.55: four holds, currently maya-chen-mbp (Apple); NAKs from a conference phone. — Every hold. As-of a day on this computer. The grant is the occupancy log.

Keep AD

A/PTR after Ack into the zones you already run. Option 6 stays on AD or Unbound. Lattice is not Microsoft DNS.

Same pool, any node

Community is one Ubuntu node. Same binaries. A Starter file adds dhcpd processes on the same database (Discover on one node, Ack on another, same pool) and three-node HA behind a VIP. Community is no license file. A 30-day Starter trial in the portal tests HA.

FAQ

Is Lattice Microsoft DHCP failover?: No. There are no failover partners. There is no partner relationship to recreate. Paid HA is three Ubuntu VMs, one Postgres, one VIP. Discover on one node and Ack on another is the same pool. Read the HA docs.
Will Lattice import my Windows DHCP leases?: No. Dump scopes and reservations, map them, POST /api/v1. Live leases do not import. Failover partners do not come with you. Read the migrate playbook.
Do I have to move DNS off Active Directory?: No. Keep AD. A/PTR follow the grant into the zones you already run. Option 6 stays on the DNS the laptops already ask.
How do I cut over from Windows DHCP?: Dump scopes and reservations, map them, POST the catalog, point relays at Lattice, then turn off Windows DHCP. Migrate.

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