Setting up a DHCP server
At the time of this writing, there is only one DHCP server which is
free software, namely ISC dhcpd. In &debian;, this
is available in the dhcp package. Here is a
sample configuration file for it (usually
/etc/dhcpd.conf):
option domain-name "example.com";
option domain-name-servers ns1.example.com;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
default-lease-time 600;
max-lease-time 7200;
server-name "servername";
subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.1.200 192.168.1.253;
option routers 192.168.1.1;
}
host clientname {
filename "/tftpboot/tftpboot.img";
server-name "servername";
next-server servername;
hardware ethernet 01:23:45:67:89:AB;
fixed-address 192.168.1.90;
}
Note: the new (and preferred) dhcp3 package uses
/etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf.
In this example, there is one server
"servername" which performs all of the work
of DHCP, server, TFTP server, and network gateway. You will almost
certainly need to change the domain-name options, as well as the
server name and client hardware address. The
"filename" option should be the name of the
file which will be retrieved via TFTP.
After you have edited the dhcpd configuration file,
restart it with /etc/init.d/dhcpd restart.
PXE Booting
Here is another example for a dhcp.conf using the
Pre-boot Execution Environment (PXE) method of TFTP.
option domain-name "example.com";
default-lease-time 6048;
max-lease-time 604800;
allow booting;
allow bootp;
# The next paragraph needs to be modified to fit your case
subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.1.200 192.168.1.253;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
option broadcast-address 192.168.1.255;
# the gateway address which can be different
# (access to the internet for instance)
option routers 192.168.1.1;
# indicate the dns you want to use
option domain-name-servers 192.168.1.3;
}
host tftpserver {
# tftp server ip address
fixed-address 192.168.1.90;
# tftp server hardware address
hardware ethernet 01:23:45:67:89:AB;
}
group {
next-server 192.168.1.3;
host tftpclient {
# tftp client hardware address
hardware ethernet 00:10:DC:27:6C:15;
filename "/tftpboot/pxelinux.0";
}
}
Note that for PXE booting, the client filename pxelinux.0
is a boot loader, not a kernel image (see
below).