Dhcp

As I mentioned earlier, I have a small (embedded style) computer that I want to use for some monitoring. My suspicion is that the SSD that’s fixed into it is causing problems, so I want to be able to boot the computer diskless (that is, I want to load the Operating System over the network).

Diskless booting is a task that’s not very common, but the idea of it has been around for quite a while. Back when storage was expensive but networking was cheaper, diskless workstations were available which could only boot in this manner. The typical process by which diskless booting happens is as follows.

Well, I’ve managed to knock down one of the tasks that’s been on my “TODO” list for a while, thanks to finding someone building PDNS debs from git.

Background

I live with another geek. When we moved in together, both of us had our own domains, with DHCP servers giving out addresses for the computers we own. As we brought the computers together, the easiest solution was to run as normal, but turn off the “authoritative” function of the two DHCP servers. By doing that, both servers see the DHCP request; one will not know the host, so won’t respond, allowing the other one to supply an address. It was a little clunky but it worked.