DHCP mini-HOWTO

Vladimir Vuksan

            vuksan@veus.hr
         

Revision History
Revision v4.6 October 8, 1999 Revised by: vv
Revision v4.6 November 14, 1999 Revised by: dlr
Converted from LinuxDoc to DocBook.

This document attempts to answer basic questions on how to set up your Linux box to serve as a DHCP server or a DHCP client.

Table of Contents
1. Introduction
1.1. Standard Disclaimer
1.2. New Versions of this Document
1.3. Feedback
1.4. Contributors
1.5. Copyright Information
2. DHCP protocol
3. Client Setup
3.1. Downloading the client daemon (dhcpcd)
3.2. Slackware
3.3. RedHat 6.x and Mandrake 6.x
3.4. RedHat 5.x
3.5. RedHat 4.x and Caldera OpenLinux 1.1/1.2
3.6. Debian
3.7. LinuxPPC and MkLinux
3.8. Tying it all together
3.9. Various notes
3.10. Troubleshooting
3.10.1. Your network card is not configured properly
3.10.2. Your DHCP server supports RFC 1541/My DHCP server is Windows NT
3.10.3. During bootup I get error message "Using DHCP for eth0 ... failed" but my system works fine.
3.10.4. My network works for few minutes and then stops responding
3.10.5. My ethernet card is recognized during boot up but I still get "NO DHCPOFFER" message in my logs. I also happen to have a PCMCIA ethernet card.
3.10.6. My DHCP client broadcasts requests but no one answers (Contributed by Peter Amstutz)
3.10.7. I have followed all the steps but still my machine is not able to connect
3.10.8. I have MediaOne Express service and I still can't connect.
3.11. Alternative DHCP client (ISC dhclient)
4. DHCP Server Setup
4.1. DHCP server for UNIX
4.2. DHCP server configuration
4.3. Options for DHCPd
4.4. Starting the server

1. Introduction

1.1. Standard Disclaimer

No liability for the contents of this documents can be accepted. Use the concepts, examples and other content at your own risk. As this is a new edition of this document, there may be errors and inaccuracies, that may of course be damaging to your system. Proceed with caution, and although this is highly unlikely, I don't take any responsibility for that.

Also bear in mind that this is NOT official information. Much content in this document are assumptions, which appear to work for people. Use the information at your own risk.

1.2. New Versions of this Document

New versions of this document are available from

http://www.cs.unm.edu/~vuksan/linux/DHCP.html

Following translations of the DHCP mini-HOWTO are available:

Permission is hereby granted to all individuals who want to translate the document into their own language. I would only ask that you provide a link back to this document and inform me of a URL to your translation so I can include a link to it.

1.3. Feedback

Feedback is most certaintly welcome for this document. Without your submissions and input, this document wouldn't exist. So, please post your additions, comments and criticisms to .

1.4. Contributors

This document has been modified from the original version by Paul Makeev.

The following people have contributed to this mini-HOWTO.

  • Heiko Schlittermann

  • Jonathan Smith

  • Dan Khabaza

  • Hal Sadofsky

  • Henrik Stoerner

  • Paul Rossington

  • numerous others

1.5. Copyright Information

This document is copyrighted (c) 1998 Vladimir Vuksan and distributed under the terms of the OpenContent License (OPL). Full text of the license can be found at

http://www.opencontent.org/opl.shtml

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