DHCP requests not working with inter-vlan - simulation -

Question

I have a router with some inter-vlan connections on, the router is connected to a switch, which is connected to 3 PC's on different vlans and then the switch is connected to another router which is the DHCP server. I cannot seem to get the DHCP requests working.

Structure

R1 - Switch: 3 PC's (PC1: VLAN30, PC2: VLAN40, PC3: VLAN50), R2 - DHCP Router.

R1 Commands

interface GigabitEthernet0/1.30
encapsulation dot1Q 30
ip address 172.16.30.1 255.255.255.224

interface GigaEth0/1.40
encap dot1Q 40
ip add 172.16.40.1 255.255.255.224

int GigaEth0/1.50
encap dot1Q 50
ip add 172.16.50.1 255.255.255.224

Switch commands

PC 1 - switchport access vlan 30
PC 2 - switchport access vlan 40
PC 3 - switchport access vlan 50
Link back to R1 - trunk link

DHCP Router

ip dhcp excluded-address 172.16.30.1
ip dhcp excluded-address 172.16.40.1
ip dhcp excluded-address 172.16.50.1

ip dhcp pool forVLAN30
network 172.16.30.0 255.255.255.224
default-router 172.16.30.1
ip dhcp pool forVLAN40
network 172.16.40.0 255.255.255.224
default-router 172.16.40.1
ip dhcp pool forVLAN50
network 172.16.50.0 255.255.255.224
default-router 172.16.50.1
- link back to switch - 
ip address 172.16.50.2 255.255.255.224

For some reason the VLAN50 PC can get the DHCP request and IP but all others fail, I have tried adding helper-addresses to see if that helps but they end up at the DHCP router and then just give up.

Answer 1

DHCP requests are sent from the hosts to the DHCP server via broadcast, and broadcasts don't normally cross a layer-3 boundary (router). You can either directly connect the DHCP server to each layer-2 domain, or you can use helper addresses. One way to achieve this is to use a trunk link from the switch to the DHCP router (replace interfaces as needed for the link):

Switch:

interface GigabitEthernet0/1
 switchport trunk encapsulation dot1q
 switchport trunk allowed vlan 30 - 50
 switchport mode trunk
 switchport mode nonegotiate
 no shutdown
!

DHCP Router:

interface GigabitEthernet0/1.30
 encapsulation dot1Q 30
 ip address 172.16.30.2 255.255.255.224
 no shutdown
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1.40
 encapsulation dot1Q 40
 ip address 172.16.40.2 255.255.255.224
 no shutdown
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1.50
 encapsulation dot1Q 50
 ip address 172.16.50.2 255.255.255.224
 no shutdown
!

Another way is to put helper addresses on the R1 interfaces:

R1:

interface GigabitEthernet0/1.30
 encapsulation dot1Q 30
 ip address 172.16.30.1 255.255.255.224
 ip helper-address 172.16.50.2
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1.40
 encapsulation dot1Q 40
 ip address 172.16.40.1 255.255.255.224
 ip helper-address 172.16.50.2
!
interface GigabitEthernet0/1.50
 encapsulation dot1Q 50
 ip addres 172.16.50.1 255.255.255.224
! Helper is not needed since the broadcast need not be routed

Answer 2

Thank you to @RonMaupin for his help.

After a bit of trying everything, I realised that while I had set the switch to R1 as a trunk link, I had not set the switch to R2 - DHCP Router as a trunk link, so it was set as an access port and only allowed VLAN50 through, hence why 30,40 could not connect.

So if you are having a similar problem to me, check if your helper-addresses are sorted, that could have been the problem from the start, and also check your trunk links.