From owner-freebsd-config  Sat Sep  4 22:21:50 1999
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Date: Sun, 5 Sep 1999 00:20:48 -0500 (CDT)
From: Chris Dillon <cdillon@wolves.k12.mo.us>
To: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>
Cc: "David O'Brien" <obrien@NUXI.com>, config@FreeBSD.ORG,
	small@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: Odd idea 
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On Sat, 4 Sep 1999, Mike Smith wrote:

> > Doh.  I wish there were some way other than specifying the MAC address
> > to say to the DHCP/BOOTP server "give me FOO configuration".  I was
> > trying to think of a way to make a boot disk which required a minimal
> > amount of system-dependant information tied to the boot disk itself or
> > to the station you are booting it from.  Unfortunately I guess neither
> > BOOTP nor DHCP can fit this bill (or can it?).
> 
> You need a physical token of some sort to identify the machine; either
> you use the MAC address or in some cases the GUID or UUID storage (on an
> intel system) or some other NVRAM token depending on the system in
> question.
> 
> But the ethernet MAC address is about the only universal uniquifier 
> that any system has, so you really don't have much choice.

I was thinking more along the line of the dhcp-client-identifier which
is sent to the DHCP server by the client (which I guess is what you
are referring to, also, in the case of the "token").  Since the
hostname can be used as this identifier, it would be possible for me
to give each install disk a hostname of install# and then configure
dhcpd to give anything with hostname install* a certain configuration.
Would the DHCP client in the loader support doing this?  If not, maybe
I can hack it up into doing so.  :-)  Using the MAC address as the
token is just a little bit of a pain in the @ss since there are
potentially thousands of systems, and new systems must have their MAC
addresses entered first before they can be used.

If support in isc-dhcpd isn't there for specifying something like:

group {
	next-server boot.foo.com;
	filename "kernel";
	dhcp-client-identifier "install*";
}

or possibly even:

host install* {
	next-server boot.foo.com;
	filename "kernel";
	dhcp-client-identifier "install*";
}


Think it would be a useful enough feature to submit to ISC, assuming
it doesn't already exist?

At the very worst I could do (and can be done right now, without mod 
to the dhcpd):

group {
	next-server boot.foo.com;
	filename "kernel";

	host install1 { dhcp-client-identifier "install1"; }
	host install2 { dhcp-client-identifier "install2"; }
	host install3 { dhcp-client-identifier "install3"; }
	ad nauseum...
}


-- Chris Dillon - cdillon@wolves.k12.mo.us - cdillon@inter-linc.net
   FreeBSD: The fastest and most stable server OS on the planet.
   For Intel x86 and Alpha architectures (SPARC under development).
   ( http://www.freebsd.org )

   "One should admire Windows users.  It takes a great deal of
    courage to trust Windows with your data."



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