[NCLUG] dhcp and @home

[Sean Roberts]

On Friday 16 March 2001 09:39 am, you wrote:
> Any of you @home cable modem users have any issues with getting DHCP to
> work? I got it installed yesterday and could never even get a reply from
> my dhcp requests, although I could see plenty of broadcasts on the network
> from stations other than myself. I'm connecting a machine directly to the
> modem over cat-5. Their tech support wasn't very useful as they tried
> updating their dhcp database 3 times then gave up and said I couldn't talk
> to tier 2 support anymore because I only had the basic installation. :-P

@home tech support is nearly useless, especially for linux.

>  I did get it working with the static IP and hopefully I can convince them
> to let me keep it but they confirmed again to me that they are going to try
> to take them all away and make everyone use dhcp where possible.

my dhcp works great with linux.  The server requires you to supply
your hostname when you request an IP address.  Try

/sbin/dhcpcd -d -h <hostname> eth0

the -d flag just syslogs stuff, so it's optional, but can help with
trouble shooting.  <hostname> is the (terribly boring) hostname they
gave you (something like c34232-a).  It has been several months since
I first set mine up and I remember I had to screw with it for a little
while to get it to work right, you may have to use the -s ipaddress
flag the first time i.e. /sbin/dhcpcd -d -h <hostname> -s <ip> eth0
where <ip> is the original ip address they gave you.  check man dhcpcd
for further info.  Once you get it working you will probably have to
modify your startup script so that it starts correctly at boot time.
I am using SuSE 6.4 and had to modify /sbin/init.d/dhclient to include
the -h <hostname> stuff.  Your milage may vary.

Hope this helps.
-- 
Sean Roberts