How can I configure a DHCP server to assign addresses based on the OS that is running

Randall C Grimshaw rgrimsha at syr.edu
Fri May 21 00:29:44 UTC 2010


Glenn already provided an example of using vendor-class-identifier. Microsoft is pretty consistent for matching this. Apple and linux are not. but if you can have two pools... one for MS and one for other... that would be pretty easy to do.

Randall Grimshaw rgrimsha at syr.edu
________________________________________
From: dhcp-users-bounces+rgrimsha=syr.edu at lists.isc.org [dhcp-users-bounces+rgrimsha=syr.edu at lists.isc.org] On Behalf Of Marc Chamberlin [marc at marcchamberlin.com]
Sent: Thursday, May 20, 2010 5:59 PM
To: Users of ISC DHCP
Subject: Re: How can I configure a DHCP server to assign addresses based on     the     OS that is running

Thanks for replying Randall, I guess I don't follow or understand what you are asking me? My goal is to be able to assign a particular IP address to a system based on what operating system is running when it asks the dhcpd server for one. Right now we have just Linux and various flavors of Windows running on dual bootable systems... Mostly this is so our backup server can choose and appropriate fileset to back up when it connects to each system.

So far, Linux has been pretty stable in terms of it's file structure and as we upgrade from one release to the next, the backup requirements remain pretty consistent. Windows is far more variable and I may have to assign separate IP addresses to Windows machines based on what variant of Windows is being used.  (and we do have at least one fool who is making noises about wanting to set up his system to triple boot it! (XP, Windows 7, and Linux)  GROAN!.....)

   Marc..


On 5/19/2010 6:07 PM, Randall C Grimshaw wrote:
any chance that it is sufficient to separate windows and other...

Randall Grimshaw rgrimsha at syr.edu<mailto:rgrimsha at syr.edu>

________________________________
From: dhcp-users-bounces+rgrimsha=syr.edu at lists.isc.org<mailto:dhcp-users-bounces+rgrimsha=syr.edu at lists.isc.org> [dhcp-users-bounces+rgrimsha=syr.edu at lists.isc.org<mailto:dhcp-users-bounces+rgrimsha=syr.edu at lists.isc.org>] On Behalf Of Marc Chamberlin [marc at marcchamberlin.com<mailto:marc at marcchamberlin.com>]
Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 5:49 PM
To: dhcp-users at lists.isc.org<mailto:dhcp-users at lists.isc.org>
Subject: How can I configure a DHCP server to assign addresses based on the OS that is running

I have a need to be able to assign fixed IP addresses to various computers based on the operating system that is running, not based on MAC addresses... The purpose of this is so that our backup server, which automatically backs up files from each system, and can only work with static IP addresses, has the ability to change it's behavior based on which IP address/OS is used/running, when it connects to a particular system. Our systems, are all dual boot,  Linux and Windows (Vista or XP). Laptops in particular are a problem because they can be connected wirelessly or wired to our network, and it is unpredictable as to which way they  will be connected, or what operating system is in use, when the backup occurs (usually late at night)....

I am running a dhcp server on a Linux (SuSE11.2) system,  - Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Server V3.1.2p1

So here is what I am after -  For a given OS (Windows or Linux) running on a client, I want the DHCP server to assign a particular IP address to that client, regardless of which interface that client is using - wired or wireless. But I want a different IP address assigned to that client for each OS. For example, if the laptop is running Windows I want to give the laptop the address of 192.168.2.15 regardless of whether it is connected wirelessly or wired. If the laptop is running Linux I want to give the laptop the address of 192.168.2.10, again regardless of how it is connected to the network.

I understand that I can configure the dhcpd.conf file so as to assign the same IP address to a client, for each MAC address that it has, i.e. as follows -

  host laptop_Vista_wireless {
    hardware ethernet 00:1A:73:55:7D:0F;
    fixed-address 192.168.2.15;
    }

  host laptop_Vista_ethernet {
    hardware ethernet 00:1B:24:3C:88:3E;
    fixed-address 192.168.2.15;
  }

But that won't work for Linux since it will be using the same interfaces with the same MAC addresses, and I need a different IP addressed assign to that system when it is running Linux.

With Linux I can set the dhcp client identifier, but I have never been able to figure out how to do so in Windows XP or Vista. I have discovered, by monitoring the dhcpd.leases file however, that there is indeed a client identifier for each of the network interface cards when running under Windows. Unfortunately it is not the same identifier for both interfaces, nor is it human readable. But I can cut and paste it so I have tried to configure the dhcpd.conf file as follows -


  host laptop_Linux {
    option dhcp-client-identifier "\000Linux-laptop";
    fixed-address 192.168.2.10;
  }

  host laptop_Vista_wireless {
    option dhcp-client-identifier "\001\000\032sU}\017";
    fixed-address 192.168.2.15;
    }

  host laptop_Vista_ethernet {
    option dhcp-client-identifier "\001\000\0266\302e\244";
    fixed-address 192.168.2.15;
  }

And that gets me close but there is still a problem. If the user of the laptop switches from using one of the interfaces to the other, the dhcp server recognizes that there is still a lease on the IP address that it assigned to the initial interface, used by the laptop, and it fails to reassign that IP address to the new interface that the user switched to. So some default IP address is assigned instead, which results in my backup server failing to back up that system.

I realize that there is an interesting question about what happens if a user has both interfaces active when he/she connects to a network. I see from log files that Linux will try and have the dhcp server assign an IP address to each interface when it is activated/initialized. Since Windows hides everything, I am not sure what it does or how it prioritizes the usage of multiple interfaces. So I would appreciate some insight here as well, if anyone really understands the behavior of these operating systems.. But what I really want is that I have the ability to assign a fixed IP address to whichever interface the OS will decide to use.... And if I can assign the same IP address to each interface, then it should not matter in the final analysis, since I would guess the OS is only going to use one of the interfaces. (At least that is what it appears Windows does, not so sure about Linux)

I have tried to read the documentation and man pages, and fooled around a bit with the conditional expressions but could never get that to work. The documentation is pretty difficult and obtuse to understand so I give up and decided to simply ask... So can some kind guru help me out and show me how to configure dhcpd.conf so I can achieve what I am after? Much appreciate it and many thanks in advance..

   Marc..



--
Marc Chamberlin
 www.marcchamberlin.com<http://www.marcchamberlin.com>

 A man said unto the universe - "Sir I Exist!"
 "However" replied the universe
 "I do not see where that creates in me a sense of
 an obligation" S Crane.




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