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YoLinux Tutorial - DHCP Server Configuration

This tutorial covers the configuration and set-up of a Linux DHCP server. It is a prerequisite that the network interface be configured. the server also be configured.

For Linux DHCP client configuration and general Linux network configuration, see the YoLinux Networking Tutorial

Related YoLinux DHCP Server Configuration:

Tutorials:

°Linux Networking Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) automatically assigns IP addresses and other network configuration information (subnetmask,
broadcast address, etc) to computers on a network. A client configured for DHCP will send out a broadcast request to the DHCP server
°Linux Sys Admin requesting an address. The DHCP server will then issue a "lease" and assign it to that client. The time period of a valid lease can be specified on
the server. DHCP reduces the ammount of time required to configure clients and allows one to move a computer to various networks and be
°Internet Gateway configured with the appropriate IP address, gateway and subnet mask. For ISP's it conserves the limited number of IP addresses it may use.
DHCP servers may assign a "static" IP address to specified hardware. Microsoft NetBios information is often included in the network information
°YoLinux Tutorials Index
sent by the DHCP server.
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DHCP assignment:
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IP/DNS/DHCP 1. Lease Request: Client broadcasts request to DHCP server with a source address of 0.0.0.0 and a destination address of 255.255.255.255.
Want to centralize the The request includes the MAC address which is used to direct the reply.
management of your IP
resources ? 2. IP lease offer: DHCP server replies with an IP address, subnet mask, network gateway, name of the domain, name servers, duration of the
www.ipanto.com lease and the IP address of the DHCP server.
3. Lease Selection: Client recieves offer and broadcasts to al DHCP servers that will accept given offer so that other DHCP server need not
Telecom IP DNS/DHCP make an offer.
IRRD 4. The DHCP server then sends an ack to the client. The client is configured to use TCP/IP.
Telecom/Enterprise IP 5. Lease Renewal: When half of the lease time has expired, the client will issue a new request to the DHCP server.
Address mgmt TCAM -
Built for complex networks
www.parabolaip.com Starting DHCP server: service dhcpd start
(or /etc/rc.d/init.d/dhcpd start)
DNS Manager control
panel Sample DHCP server config file: (DHCP v3.0.1) /etc/dhcpd.conf
Provide DNS hosting and (See /usr/share/doc/dhcp-3.X/dhcp.conf.sample)
DNS centralization
services. ddns-update-style interim; # Required for dhcp 3.0+ / Red Hat 8.0+
www.4psa.com ignore client-updates;

subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {

Dhcp Management
IT Product Reviews, range 192.168.1.128 192.168.1.254; # Range of IP addresses to be issued to DHCP clients
Research, Vendors & option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0; # Default subnet mask to be used by DHCP clients
News. Learn More Now! option broadcast-address 192.168.1.255; # Default broadcastaddress to be used by DHCP clients
www.computerworld.com/mobiletopics option routers 192.168.1.1; # Default gateway to be used by DHCP clients
option domain-name "your-domain.org";
option domain-name-servers 40.175.42.254, 40.175.42.253; # Default DNS to be used by DHCP clients
option netbios-name-servers 192.168.1.100; # Specify a WINS server for MS/Windows clients.
Ip Address Management # (Optional. Specify if used on your network)
Free info on Ip Address
Management Start your # DHCP requests are not forwarded. Applies when there is more than one ethernet device and forwarding is configured.
info search right here! # option ipforwarding off;
www.1st-to-see.com

default-lease-time 21600; # Amount of time in seconds that a client may keep the IP address
Advertise on this site max-lease-time 43200;

option time-offset -18000; # Eastern Standard Time

# option ntp-servers 192.168.1.1; # Default NTP server to be used by DHCP clients
Ads by Google # option netbios-name-servers 192.168.1.1;
# --- Selects point-to-point node (default is hybrid). Don't change this unless you understand Netbios very well
# option netbios-node-type 2;

# We want the nameserver "ns2" to appear at a fixed address.

# Name server with this specified MAC address will recieve this IP.

host ns2 {
next-server ns2.your-domain.com;
hardware ethernet 00:02:c3:d0:e5:83;
fixed-address 40.175.42.254;
}

# Laser printer obtains IP address via DHCP. This assures that the
# printer with this MAC address will get this IP address every time.

host laser-printer-lex1 {
hardware ethernet 08:00:2b:4c:a3:82;
fixed-address 192.168.1.120;
}
}
Test configuration file for errors with the following command: /etc/rc.d/init.d/dhcpd configtest
(Other distributions may use: /usr/sbin/dhcpd -f)

Note: The MAC addresses for the static address name server (ns2.your-domain.com),
can be obtained with the command /sbin/ifconfig:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:C3:D0:E5:83

inet addr:40.175.42.254 Bcast:40.175.42.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::202:b3ff:fef0:e484/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:4070 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:3878 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:3406445 (3.2 MiB) TX bytes:439612 (429.3 KiB)

When dhcpd is running it will generate entries in the file: /var/lib/dhcp/dhcpd.leases

lease 192.168.1.128 {
starts 2 2004/12/01 20:07:05;
ends 3 2004/12/02 08:07:05;
hardware ethernet 00:00:e8:4a:2c:5c;
uid 01:00:00:e8:4c:5d:31;
client-hostname "Node1";
}

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 !"#$

LANs separated by routers: In order to have your DHCP broadcast pass through a router on the the next network, one must configure the
router to allow DHCP relay. (Cisco: ip-helper address, Juniper: dhcp-relay) The local lan subnet{ } configuration must come before the
configuration directives of the remote LANs.

See dhcp-options man page below.

DHCP man pages:

dhcpcd: DHCP client daemon
/etc/dhcpc:
/etc/dhcpc/dhcpcd-<interface>.info: dhcpcd stores host information in this file. (interface=eth0 or eth1,...)
/etc/dhcpc/dhcpcd-<interface>.cache: Cache file containing the previously assigned IP address.
dhcpd: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol Server daemon
dhcpd.conf: dhcpd configuration file
dhcpd.leases: dhcpd DHCP client lease database
dhcp-options: dhcpd Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol options
pump: configure network interface via BOOTP or DHCP protocol
DHCP RFC's: RFC2131, RFC1541 (obsolete), RFC2132

Note: DHCP client will overwrite your /etc/resolv.conf file with new information recieved from the DHCP server.

Books:

"Red Hat Linux Fedora Unleashed"

by Bill Ball, Hoyt Duff
Sams, ISBN# 0672326299

"Red Hat Linux Fedora 3 Unleashed"

by Bill Ball, Hoyt Duff
Sams, ISBN# 0672327082

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