Subject: DHCP Configuration Problems
To: None <netbsd-help@netbsd.org>
From: Gene ENonymous <yancm@otaku.freeshell.org>
List: netbsd-help
Date: 03/26/2002 17:34:20
I have attempted to set up a DHCP client to communicate with
my InsightBB.com cable modem service. I have a mac68k box (Centris 650)
with 40M ram, 2G HD, 1.5.2 binary install and 2 ethernet interfaces.

DHCP works fine with a Win98 box, so I figured it would be a
breeze to get it working with NetBSD 1.5.2 (the FAQ says so!).
Unfortunately, here I am writing to help....

The first thing I did was to verify that I could configure both
ethernet interfaces onto my local network. The allowed me to
test the interface functionality and the cables. THis worked
fine. THat is I could telnet out to both interfaces and
telnet in from another win98 box to both IP's.
 (what do I need to turn on in inetd.conf so I am ping-able?)

My two interfaces are ae0 and sn0. For the verify tests, I used
two files ifconfig.ae0 and ifconfig.sn0 which specified a
local IP (10.10.10.1 and 10.10.10.11 repectively). Since I wanted
to let DHCP configure sn0, I removed (renamed, I never delete
until forced too!) ifconfig.sn0.

1) I read the FAQ and searched the last years worth of mail archives
   to get as far as I have.

2) The main FAQ just says to turn on dhcpclient in the rc.conf.
   THis assumes that there is a dhclient.conf and a dhclient-script
   in your /etc directory. Mine did *not* (I just downloaded/installed
   my MacBSD from the ftp site - so most of the /etc files came
   from etc.tgz - should the dhclient* files come from a different
   set/archive???)

3) I finally downloaded the dhcp distribution from www.isc.org
   (dhcp301rc8) so I could get a dhclient-script (and an example
   dhclient.conf file) for netbsd.

4) From some combination of FAQ's and mail archives I arrived at
   this dhclient.conf:

## dhclient.conf #####################################################
Send host-name "bloober.insightbb.com";
send dhcp-client-identifier "bloober.insightbb.com";
# I also tried the sn0 ethernet address as the ident...no difference
# insightbb.com was the domain name that the win98 box showed
# in the winipcfg diagnostics output.

request subnet-mask, broadcast-address, routers,
    domain-name-servers;

timeout 30;
retry 60;
select-timeout 5;

script "/etc/dhclient-script";

lease {
  interface "sn0";
  option host-name "bloober.insightbb.com";
  option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
  option domain-name "insightbb.com";
  option domain-name-servers 127.0.0.1;
  renew 2 2000/1/12 00:00:01;
  rebind 2 2000/1/12 00:00:01;
  expire 2 2000/1/12 00:00:01;
}
########################################################################

The result is:
a bunch of DHCPDISCOVER messages,
a no DHCPOFFER received message
a no valid leases in the database message
and a sleep message
with the thing repeatin. And I cannot see or
get to anything which is out on the net.

The cable modem shows some activity on the status lights
(both on the ethernet port and the cable port). The cable
modem needs to be reset before it will reconnect to my win98
box. I also reset it and let it register before I start up
NetBSD.

Anybody have any hints???
Suggestions of other things to look at, diagnostic tools to use?

Please help,
gene