This causes dhcpd to read its configuration from /var/dhcp/test.conf, but the /etc/dhcpd.conf file is still required! The /etc/init.d/dhcpd script does not run dhcpd unless it finds both the /etc/ dhcpd.conf file and the /var/lib/dhcp/dhcpd.leases file. Initializing the dhcpd.leases File dhcpd stores a database of the address leases it has assigned in the dhcpd.leases file. The file must exist for dhcpd to boot. When the server is first installed, create an empty dhcpd.leases file to ensure that the daemon starts correctly. dhcpd writes database entries into the file as ASCII text. If you’re curious, you can view the file to see what leases have been assigned. Entries in the file have the following format: lease address {statements} Each lease begins with the keyword lease and the IP address that is assigned by the lease. This is followed by a group of statements that define the characteristics of the lease. Possible values that might appear in the list of statements include the following: starts date Records the start time of the lease. date contains the weekday, year, month, day, hour, minute, and second when the lease started. ends date Records the time when the lease will end. date contains the weekday, year, month, day, hour, minute, and second when the lease will end. hardware hardware-type mac-address Records the client’s physical-layer address. On an Ethernet, the hardware-type is ethernet, and the mac-address is the Ethernet address. uid client-identifier Records the client’s DHCP identifier if one was used by the client when it obtained the lease. Most clients are identified by their MAC addresses, and do not require a separate DHCP identifier. client-hostname “name” Records the client’s hostname if the client provided it using the client-hostname DHCP option. (Much more will be said about DHCP options later in this chapter.) hostname “name” Records the client’s hostname if the client provided a hostname using the hostname DHCP option. Microsoft Windows clients send their hostnames to the server using the hostname option. abandoned Identifies this as an abandoned lease. If the server has trouble assigning an address (either because the client rejects the address, or the server determines that an unassigned address is already in use), the server marks it “abandoned” until it runs short of available addresses and needs to try this one again. Use this information when you want to examine the contents of the dhcpd.leases file. Beyond that, you don’t need to be concerned about these commands. When you create the file, you create it empty. After you create it, you can forget about it because dhcpd maintains the file. The file that does require your input, however, is the dhcpd.conf file that is used to configure the server. 234
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