Question : dhcp lease ras

We have a NT 4.0 server, using as a PDC. Running DHCP, WINS on it. Our
leases are set for 5 days due to our backups we perform. Should our leases
be shorter?? The reason I am asking is that in the scope, it shows that we
are running out of IP addresses. Shouldn't happen. We have currently 80 host
computers and 110 available ip addresses. I am going to remove RAS from the
server to retain some addresses. I am trying to figure out why the addresses
are being used up. We also have a lot of duplicate addresses showing up on
the active leases.

The other problem we have been having is our WINS is not resolving on our
scope. If I ping an unresolved address on my computer via name, it does get
resolved. This tells me that it is working on my computer. But then again,
my computer hasn't been turned off for several days either.

Answer : dhcp lease ras

Do you actually have users coming in through RAS?  If so, how are you going to give them access if you remove it?  You can set up a static pool for your RAS users separate from the regular DHCP scope.  leases from RAS should show a slightly different icon in dhcp...should look like a phone, and you should see several IP addresses listed with the same server name(RAS Server).

On your DHCP scope, make sure you have 0x46 (node type) and 0x44 (wins server) defined as options, otherwise clients getting DHCP will not use your WINS server.  ALso, if any of those clients have been configured with static IP's, then they may need to be changed since a static WINS setting will override settings from DHCP.

Increase your scope size if you can, and are in a dire situation.