Net booting with dual DHCP servers

Hi all,

I'm tring to setup a network boot for a "New Internet Computer" on my
home network and am having a problem. I have a linksys cable/router
on my system which provides DHCP services for some of the computers on
my home network. However, I want my linux machine (Fedora Core 2) to
provide DHCP services for the computer I'd like to net boot. It will
also provide the tftp services to download the boot image and
eventually the NFS file system. However, when the net booted computer
starts up, the linksys router always answers its DHCP request first
and my linux box never gets a chance to get in there. Does anyone have
any suggestions, hints, pointers or ideas where I can find a solution
to this problem, or information about it?

Thanks in advance,
Doug

Doug Farrell wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm tring to setup a network boot for a "New Internet Computer" on my
> home network and am having a problem. I have a linksys cable/router
> on my system which provides DHCP services for some of the computers on
> my home network. However, I want my linux machine (Fedora Core 2) to
> provide DHCP services for the computer I'd like to net boot. It will
> also provide the tftp services to download the boot image and
> eventually the NFS file system. However, when the net booted computer
> starts up, the linksys router always answers its DHCP request first
> and my linux box never gets a chance to get in there. Does anyone have
> any suggestions, hints, pointers or ideas where I can find a solution
> to this problem, or information about it?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Doug

I hope you get an answer on this. I have a similar setup (different
OS and hardware) with the same problem.

SuSE 7.3 providing dhcp to an LTSP diskless workstation with a fixed
address. D-Link DWL-G700AP provide support for wireless network.

The D-Link seems to always reply first causing the diskless to throw
a kernel panic failure because it can't find the root-path.

Charlie Smith

Doug Farrell <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
I'm tring to setup a network boot [...] and am having a problem. I
have a linksys cable/router on my system which provides DHCP services
for some of the computers on my home network. However, I want my linux
machine (Fedora Core 2) to provide DHCP services for the computer I'd
like to net boot.

You can't do that on the same network segment unless the two DHCP servers
cooperate. HOWEVER, you should be able to get your FC2 box to provide
reverse arp and tftp services before DHCP gets called. Can you get your
net boot machine to use BOOTP instead of DHCP? Or alternatively, can you
put it on a different routed network so that it can't see LAN broadcasts
from the Linksys? Or alternatively, can you disable the Linksys DHCP
and use your FC2 box to provide all DHCP service.

Chris

Chris,

Thanks for the feedback. I'll look into the BOOTP method you mention,
and also putting the NIC computer on another segment. It's very
convienent to have the linksys router in there as my wife and
daughter's computers are both Windows (I know, where oh where did I go
wrong).

Thanks again,
Doug

chris-(E-Mail Removed) wrote in message news:<umbl22-(E-Mail Removed)>...
> Doug Farrell <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> I'm tring to setup a network boot [...] and am having a problem. I
> have a linksys cable/router on my system which provides DHCP services
> for some of the computers on my home network. However, I want my linux
> machine (Fedora Core 2) to provide DHCP services for the computer I'd
> like to net boot.
>
> You can't do that on the same network segment unless the two DHCP servers
> cooperate. HOWEVER, you should be able to get your FC2 box to provide
> reverse arp and tftp services before DHCP gets called. Can you get your
> net boot machine to use BOOTP instead of DHCP? Or alternatively, can you
> put it on a different routed network so that it can't see LAN broadcasts
> from the Linksys? Or alternatively, can you disable the Linksys DHCP
> and use your FC2 box to provide all DHCP service.
>
> Chris

Doug Farrell <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Thanks for the feedback. I'll look into the BOOTP method you mention,
> and also putting the NIC computer on another segment. It's very
> convienent to have the linksys router in there as my wife and
> daughter's computers are both Windows (I know, where oh where did I go
> wrong).

I don't see as a technical problem. You should be able to get your FC1 box
to offer DHCP to them as well as doing a net boot for the other box(es).

Chris

Chris,

>
> I don't see as a technical problem. You should be able to get your FC1 box
> to offer DHCP to them as well as doing a net boot for the other box(es).
>
> Chris

I agree, I should (if I can figure it out <g>) be able to get the FC2
box to provide DHCP services. But I don't want to leave my linux box
on all the time. So I'll look at the different segments thing, or
perhaps make the NIC boot up from a smart card or something just to
get NFS going.

Thanks again,
Doug