DEC workstation and DHCP

[Vilvox]

Good morning,

I try to configure a DEC workstation (Digital Unix) with DHCP but when
I reboot, the DHCP request doesn't work each time (it is working one
time over 10 perhaps !).
Do you have any idea where does it come from ?
Similar problem ?

Thanks for your time,

Vi'

[Alan Adams]

In message <3967f614.03080...@posting.google.com>
vil...@yahoo.fr (Vilvox) wrote:

> Good morning,
>
> I try to configure a DEC workstation (Digital Unix) with DHCP but when
> I reboot, the DHCP request doesn't work each time (it is working one
> time over 10 perhaps !).
> Do you have any idea where does it come from ?

It sounds as though the DHCP request you are broadcasting doesn't reach the
server, or the reply doesn't get back. Most likely the first.

Your DHCP server logging should tell you whether it is receiving a request.
Assuming it doesn't you need to look at your network hardware. Is everything
connected properly? Are terminators in place? Is there a bridge or router in
between client and server? If so, is it passing broadcasts?

Are you also running Decnet - I don't know unix startups well enough, but IF
Decnet was changing the address of your ethernet adapter between the DHCP
request being sent and the reply returned, the reply would be ignored. If it
changes it before the request is sent, the address will not match the
server's DHCP database. (If you simply honour all requests that will not
matter. If you tie IP to Ethernet address, it will matter.)

That sort of mechanism would explain intermittent success.

> Similar problem ?
>
> Thanks for your time,
>
> Vi'

--
Alan Adams
alan....@orchard-way.freeserve.co.uk
http://www.nckc.org.uk/

[Vilvox]

ok thanks for your answer
the dhcp request seems not to reach the server
I think the solution is to change my dhcp client (joinc) and to use
the ISC one (isc.org)
I am trying it now and it feels to be the begin of new problems

Alan Adams <alan....@orchard-way.freeserve.co.uk> wrote in message news:<0c30b91e4c...@orchard-way.freeserve.co.uk>...

[Han Pilmeyer]

>>>>> "vilvox" == vilvox <vil...@yahoo.fr> writes:

vilvox> Good morning,
vilvox> I try to configure a DEC workstation (Digital Unix) with DHCP but when
vilvox> I reboot, the DHCP request doesn't work each time (it is working one
vilvox> time over 10 perhaps !).
vilvox> Do you have any idea where does it come from ?
vilvox> Similar problem ?

The DHCP client has been broken for a long time. I think we finally
fixed in V5.1B. If I remember correctly, the problem is in
/sbin/init.d/inet.

Cheers.
--
-- Han Pilmeyer, email: h...@zk3.dec.compaq.hp.com --
-- Hewlett-Packard Company - UNIX Support Engineering Group --
-- Answers are the easy part, questions raise the doubt - JB --
-- All opinions are those of the author, not of Hewlett-Packard Company! --