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On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 17:01:23 -0700, Trouble@Mill wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I've just bought a new piece of hardware that I need to connect to my
> network in order to configure it. The problem is, it *only* supports
> DHCP to get it's IP address. No problem, methinks, set up a DHCP
> server on my Linux box and everything will be fine. Except it isn't.

There are some things you can al least try, i'll give some pointers.

Try looking a the lights on the NICs and switch (if any).
Is there any blinking when you boot the device (conected before hand)?
Snif the network for any broadcasts using for instance `tcpdump'.
Is there any trafic?

> After starting the server, nothing. So, as a test, I changed my
> Laptop, which is conected to the same network, to "Obtain IP
> Automatically" instead of the fixed IP it usually has. This failed
> with "Server unreachable". Hmmmm.

Look in `/var/log' for any DHCP related lines.
Try setting it back to working networking state and scan the server for
UDP port 67 using `nc' (netcat) or some other tool.

> Now, here's the strange part. If I change my Wireless Access point to
> use a DHCP client instead of giving a fixed IP, this one DOES connect
> to the DHCP server and gets a valid IP from the range I specified.

It could be the `arp' tables at either the server the switch or both still
have the old IP assciated with the MAC adress.
Try rebooting the swith empty the arp-cache from the server.
(Use the "-d" option to "arp").

> So, why would one device on the network connect and get an IP, but two
> others fail.

For the laptop - the above might be the case.
For the "device" - maybe it likes to be configured using "bootp" instead.

> Everything is connected to a single switch. Everything
> is in the same 192.168.0.0 subnet.

Good.

> In case it helps, here's my dhcpd.conf file:

Looks ok to me - try making a static record (bootp style).
Here are some adjustments for `bootp' which might work -
change to meet network (un tested):

server-identifier The-Tardis.BogoLinux.net;
option domain-name "BogoLinux.net";
option domain-name-servers The-Tardis.BogoLinux.net;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
option broadcast-address 192.168.0.255;
option routers 192.168.0.1;

default-lease-time 6000;
max-lease-time 7200;

dynamic-bootp-lease-length 6000;

subnet 192.168.0.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.0.201 192.168.0.220;
option netbios-name-servers 192.168.0.1;
}

host device {
hardware ethernet 00:00:de:ad:be:ef;
fixed-address 192.168.0.210;
}

> Cheers,

HTH.

--
-Menno.