dhcp_network(4) File Formats dhcp_network(4)
NAME
dhcp_network - DHCP network tables
DESCRIPTION
The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) network tables are used to map the client identifiers of DHCP clients to IP addresses and
the associated configuration parameters of that address. One DHCP network table exists for each network served by the DHCP server, and each
table is named using the network's IP address. There is no table or file with the name dhcp_network.
The DHCP network tables can exist as ASCII text files, binary text files, or NIS+ tables, depending on the data store used. Since the for-
mat of the file could change, the preferred method of managing the DHCP network tables is through the use of dhcpmgr(1M) or the pntadm(1M)
command.
The dhcp_network file is used as a policy mechanism for whether in.dhcpd(1M) leases addresses on a given network. If the DHCP server is not
serving leases or information to a network, there should be no dhcp_network file for that network. To set the DHCP server in informational
mode, where it responds to INFORM messages but does not lease addresses on that network, create an empty dhcp_network file for that net-
work. For normal operations, where the DHCP server both leases addresses and responds to INFORM packets, create a dhcp_network file using
dhcpmgr(1M) or pntadm(1M) and populate it with leasable addresses.
The format of the records in a DHCP network table depends on the data store used to maintain the table. However, an entry in a DHCP network
table must contain the following fields:
Client_ID The client identifier field, Client_ID, is an ASCII hexadecimal representation of the unique octet string value of the DHCP
Client Identifier Option (code 61) which identifies a DHCP client. In the absence of the DHCP Client Identifier Option, the
DHCP client is identified using the form given below for BOOTP clients. The number of characters in this field must be an
even number, with a maximum length of 64 characters. Valid characters are 0 - 9 and A-F. Entries with values of 00 are
freely available for dynamic allocation to requesting clients. BOOTP clients are identified by the concatenation of the
network's hardware type (as defined by RFC 1340, titled "Assigned Numbers") and the client's hardware address. For example,
the following BOOTP client has a hardware type of '01' (10mb ethernet) and a hardware address of 8:0:20:11:12:b7, so its
client identifier would be: 010800201112B7
Flags The Flags field is a decimal value, the bit fields of which can have a combination of the following values:
1 (PERMANENT)
Evaluation of the Lease field is turned off (lease is permanent). If this bit is not set, Evaluation of the Lease field
is enabled and the Lease is DYNAMIC.
2 (MANUAL)
This entry has a manual client ID binding (cannot be reclaimed by DHCP server). Client will not be allocated another
address.
4 (UNUSABLE)
When set, this value means that either through ICMP echo or client DECLINE, this address has been found to be unusable.
Can also be used by the network administrator to prevent a certain client from booting, if used in conjunction with the
MANUAL flag.
8 (BOOTP)
This entry is reserved for allocation to BOOTP clients only.
Client_IP The Client_IP field holds the IP address for this entry. This value must be unique in the database.
Server_IP This field holds the IP address of the DHCP server which owns this client IP address, and thus is responsible for initial
allocation to a requesting client. On a multi-homed DHCP server, this IP address must be the first address returned by
gethostbyname(3NSL).
Lease This numeric field holds the entry's absolute lease expiration time, and is in seconds since January 1, 1970. It can be
decimal, or hexadecimal (if 0x prefixes number). The special value -1 is used to denote a permanent lease.
Macro This ASCII text field contains the dhcptab macro name used to look up this entry's configuration parameters in the
dhcptab(4) database.
Comment This ASCII text field contains an optional comment.
TREATISE ON LEASES
This section describes how the DHCP/BOOTP server calculates a client's configuration lease using information contained in the dhcptab(4)
and DHCP network tables. The server consults the LeaseTim and LeaseNeg symbols in the dhcptab, and the Flags and Lease fields of the chosen
IP address record in the DHCP network table.
The server first examines the Flags field for the identified DHCP network table record. If the PERMANENT flag is on, then the client's
lease is considered permanent.
If the PERMANENT flag is not on, the server checks if the client's lease as represented by the Lease field in the network table record has
expired. If the lease is not expired, the server checks if the client has requested a new lease. If the LeaseNeg symbol has not been
included in the client's dhcptab parameters, then the client's requested lease extension is ignored, and the lease is set to be the time
remaining as shown by the Lease field. If the LeaseNeg symbol has been included, then the server will extend the client's lease to the
value it requested if this requested lease is less than or equal to the current time plus the value of the client's LeaseTim dhcptab param-
eter.
If the client's requested lease is greater than policy allows (value of LeaseTim), then the client is given a lease equal to the current
time plus the value of LeaseTim. If LeaseTim is not set, then the default LeaseTim value is one hour.
For more information about the dhcptab symbols, see dhcptab(4).
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(5) for a description of the following attribute:
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
| ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Availability |SUNWdhcsu |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
|Interface Stability |Evolving |
+-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
SEE ALSO
dhcpconfig(1M), dhcpmgr(1M), dhtadm(1M), in.dhcpd(1M), pntadm(1M), dhcptab(4), dhcp(5), dhcp_modules(5), attributes(5)
Solaris DHCP Service Developer's Guide
System Administration Guide: IP Services
Reynolds, J. and J. Postel, Assigned Numbers, STD 2, RFC 1340, USC/Information Sciences Institute, July 1992.
SunOS 5.10 5 Mar 2004 dhcp_network(4)