DHCP question

[Christopher K. Johnson]

Lonnie Cumberland wrote:

> which can be placed in the config file for each client machine after 
> which the daemon can be started, right?

Right.

>
> Well, I am wondering how can client configurations be added/removed 
> dynamically while the daemon is running and without causing a problem 
> when many clients are involved.

First of all dhcp leases are not dependent upon maintaining a session 
with a dhcp server.  The process of acquiring a lease, and later 
renewing it is a simple brief exchange between the client and server.  
And a client will attempt renewal several times before the lease 
expires, so a momentary failure should not cause the loss of a lease.

Because of this restarting a dhcp server is unlikely to impact anyone 
unless it serves a large number of clients with very short lease times. 

By using the command:
 service dhcpd restart
to restart the daemon it will include testing the configuration first, 
and not stopping and restarting unless the configuration is error free.  
This prevents a lengthier outage while you figure out your editing mistake.

Chris

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   "Spend less!  Do more!  Go Open Source..." -- Dirigo.net
   Chris Johnson, RHCE #807000448202021