Date: Fri, 17 Apr 1998 15:05:26 -0700 From: Studded <Studded@san.rr.com> To: Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au> Cc: hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Discussion : Using DHCP to obtain configuration. Message-ID: <3537D226.457C3B91@san.rr.com> References: <199804160151.SAA00388@antipodes.cdrom.com>
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Mike Smith wrote: > > I recently posted asking for opinions as to the desirability of making > the ISC DHCP tools part of the base system. The response to this has > been positive so far, and unless there are subsequent strong objections > they will be imported contrib-style. I would suggest that you push back the import for a little while. Ted just announced on dhcp-client that he's planning a new release for probably this weekend. Also, as much as I think that importing dhcp into the base is a necessary step, I have a concern that it will promptly become orphaned like (for example) xntpd and top. Please say it won't be so. :) [snip] > There are three basic approaches we can take to integrating DHCP > clienthood with FreeBSD: > > 1 Nothing. Leave the tools and the manpages there for users that > might feel brave and want to set it up themselves. This doesn't win > us much over the port, but results in the least change. This would actually be a minus in relation to the port since this dramatically increases the likelihood that it will be orphaned. > 2 Offer a simple choice between "traditional" static configuration, and > "use DHCP" configuration. Users with complex part-static part-DHCP > configurations can use the DHCP client configuration file to achieve > ultimate flexibility. This results in the least surprise for > existing users, but perhaps a slightly more convoluted > implementation. I posted a proposal for some very simple rc.conf and rc.network changes that would make this almost painless several months ago and was told that implementing changes like that before xntpd was in the tree wouldn't be wise. If you're interested in a slightly modified version of my plan feel free to visit http://home.san.rr.com/freebsd/dhcp.html. The system as it is now is closer to ready for this change than you might think. I would be happy to work with you (and whoever else is interested) on details of the implementation. > 3 Use the DHCP client for everything. This will require a rethunk of > the way that some configuration information is stored in /etc, in > order to feed it to the DHCP client. In effect, the DHCP client > will become the sole point of configuration for IP address, default > route, nameserver, etc. information. > This will make things simpler and cleaner, but will also result in a > break away from the "all information in one place" trend we have > been trying to cleave to. Not necessarily... there are ways to achieve this goal but they all lean pretty far towards the database model that Jordan et al want for all of the configuration items and implementing half a solution now will only make the transition more difficult. > Another significant issue is that the DHCP client can be used to > retrieve nameserver details. In order to put this information into use, > /etc/resolv.conf must be updated, requiring /etc/ to be writable. The symlink idea proposed as a solution for this seems like a good idea. > As > well, lease information is normally stored under /var (which is > normally expected to be writable, but often not as early as the DHCP > client might be running). I've never had a problem with this. Do people NFS mount /var? What circumstances are you thinking of? Glad to see this getting some notice, Doug -- *** Chief Operations Officer, DALnet IRC network *** *** Proud designer and maintainer of the world's largest Internet *** Relay Chat server with 5,328 simultaneous connections. *** Try spider.dal.net on ports 6662-4 (Powered by FreeBSD) To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
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