A wireless access point (AP) operates in a non-standalone mode under control of a network controller that hosts or has access to a central Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. When wireless clients connect to the AP, the wireless clients receive DHCP IP addresses from the network controller via the AP. When the wireless clients employ the DHCP IP addresses for network traffic that transits the AP, the AP performs network address translation (NAT) and port address translation (PAT) (NAT/PAT) on the DHCP IP addresses. When the AP loses connectivity with the network controller, the AP may operate in a limited standalone mode. In the limited standalone mode, APs cannot perform NAT/PAT because new clients do not receive IP addresses from the central DHCP server. This presents a problem in deployments in which APs are expected to operate in the standalone mode most of the time. When APs attempt to provide DHCP addresses locally (i.e., at the AP) to wireless clients without the interacting with the network controller, the APs may assign the same IP address to multiple wireless clients at the same time, which results in deleterious IP address collisions, especially when wireless clients roam between the APs. Manual configuration of different DHCP IP address pools on different APs for use in the standalone mode is prohibitively time consuming and error-prone.