[NTLUG:Discuss] dhclient problems

[kbrannen@gte.net]

Jack Snodgrass wrote:
> On Mon, 30 Jun 2003 02:10:31 -0500, kbranne wrote:
> 
> 
>>I've got some RH9.0 systems that are runing dhclient, and they don't work so 
>>well. :-(
>>
>>While they register themselves just fine, to a MS DHCP server, if you try a 
>>forward lookup (e.g. "host my-comp-name"), you get an error back about unknown 
>>server.  BTW, the computer has a static hostname, not a DHCP assigned one.
>>
>>In an attempt to track this down, I installed Suse8.2 on the system (actually 
>>another HD), and it worked just fine.  Of course, it used dhcpcd instead of 
>>dhclient, but this proves the MS DHCP servers will do the right thing if you 
>>talk to them correctly.
>>
>>Therefore, this appears to be a either a configuration issue, or a flaw in 
>>dhclient.  Can someone confirm either of these guesses?  Or is there another 
>>problem I'm not aware of?  Googling doesn't seem to help, at least not so far. :-(
>>
>>Thanks,
>>Kevin
> 
> 
> 
> what's the contents of /etc/resolv.conf and /etc/hosts 
> after you get connected for both redhat and suse?

DNS resolution is not the issue.  I can surf, hit servers, etc. just fine.  It 
that once DHCP has given me my IP information, no one can hit me by name, only 
IP address.  (is that more clear?)

> 
> What do you mean by BTW, the computer has a static hostname, not a DHCP
> assigned one.? Host names map to IP Addrsses. If you IP Addrss is 
> dynamic, then your hostname is dynamic. You can use DHCP to get a 
> static IP Address and Hostname, and you can use DHCP to tell a DNS Server
> that your desired host name goes with your new IP Address, but I've never
> seen a 'static hostname' and 'dynamic ip address'. 

OK, I'll take your wording of "desired host name goes with my new IP Address". 
  My /etc/dhclient.conf file has only 3 lines now.  I don't have it in front 
of me, but from memory they're something like:

send host-name "kevin.company.com";
send fqdn.fqdn "kevin.company.com";
send fqdn.server-update on;

I default all the rest.  It still doesn't work. :-(  [Thanks for the try 
Eric!]  If I try "host kevin.company.com", I get back an error message 
basically saying it doesn't know who that host is.

The strange part is that when I use dhcpcd with Suse, it just works out of the 
box; I don't do anything.  So I know you can can play nicely with MS's dhcp 
server...sigh...

Kevin