How to configure DHCP3-Server in Ubuntu Server
Posted on January 9, 2010 | Category: Apache, Code, Comcast, DHCP, Informational, Open-Source, Resources, Scripts, Security, Server, bash, how-to
Operating a DHCP server is not an absolute necessity for a home network. In fact, my family and I have been using the Business Class Comcast hardware router software to assign DHCP leases for about a year now. The hardware has always been a pain because of the way that it assigns nameservers and its inability to handle internal NAT’ing. Here’s what the Comcast Business Class panel looks like.
Installation of DHCP3-server is on my production server and took approximately 20 minutes to configure with Vista and Linux clients on the network. The benefits of operating your own DHCP server include better control over ip address distribution on the network, ability to view who is on the network and terminate them if necessary, and overall peace of mind.
The first step is to install dhcp3-server with the following command.
<strong>sudo apt-get install dhcp3-server -y</strong>
Next edit the configuration file using vi or gedit (via gui ssh), which is located at /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf. Make sure that you make a copy of the file just in case you louse it up.
Important Blocks to Add
Remember to replace my information with yours – duh. Also, if you are operating Bind9, you need to include your server name in the “domain-name-servers” block. For example, I am using 10.1.10.30 as my internal DNS and then Google’s DNS as my outside seeking addresses.
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0; option broadcast-address 10.1.10.255; option routers 10.1.10.1; option domain-name-servers 10.1.10.30, 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4;
If you have Windows boxes on your network, you will need to include this line to make sure that they talk nicely.
option netbios-name-servers 192.168.1.1;
This block will define the address range that you would like to use and a few other important variables.
# internal subnet
subnet 10.1.10.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
allow unknown-clients;
range 10.1.10.35 10.1.10.40;
server-name "server.local";
}And lastly, this block provides you with static address assignments for your network.
host right-ubuntu {
hardware ethernet insert-MAC-address;
fixed-address 10.1.10.58;
}The completed file
If you would rather download the full deal to take a look at, be my guest. Just remember to change the file extension from .txt to .conf.
<blockquote>
authoritative;
allow unknown-clients;
option domain-name "server.local";
ddns-update-style interim;
option netbios-name-servers 10.1.10.29;
# option domain-name-servers ns1.example.org, ns2.example.org;
default-lease-time 600;
max-lease-time 7200;
# If this DHCP server is the official DHCP server for the local
# network, the authoritative directive should be uncommented.
#authoritative;
# Use this to send dhcp log messages to a different log file (you also
# have to hack syslog.conf to complete the redirection).
log-facility local7;
# No service will be given on this subnet, but declaring it helps the
# DHCP server to understand the network topolsudo apt-get install dhcp3-server -yogy.
#subnet 10.1.10.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
#range 10.1.10.12 10.1.10.18;
#}
# This is a very basic subnet declaration.
#subnet 10.254.239.0 netmask 255.255.255.224 {
# range 10.254.239.10 10.254.239.20;
# option routers rtr-239-0-1.example.org, rtr-239-0-2.example.org;
#}
# This declaration allows BOOTP clients to get dynamic addresses,
# which we don't really recommend.
#subnet 10.254.239.32 netmask 255.255.255.224 {
# range dynamic-bootp 10.254.239.40 10.254.239.60;
# option broadcast-address 10.254.239.31;
# option routers rtr-239-32-1.example.org;
#}
# A slightly different configuration for an internal subnet.
#subnet 10.1.10.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
# range 10.1.10.10 10.1.10.200;
# option domain-name-servers 10.1.10.30, 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4;
# option domain-name "server.local";
# option routers 10.5.5.1;
# option broadcast-address 10.1.10.30;
# default-lease-time 600;
# max-lease-time 7200;
#}
# Hosts which require special configuration options can be listed in
# host statements. If no address is specified, the address will be
# allocated dynamically (if possible), but the host-specific information
# will still come from the host declaration.
#host passacaglia {
# hardware ethernet 0:0:c0:5d:bd:95;
# filename "vmunix.passacaglia";
# server-name "toccata.fugue.com";
#}
# Fixed IP addresses can also be specified for hosts. These addresses
# should not also be listed as being available for dynamic assignment.
# Hosts for which fixed IP addresses have been specified can boot using
# BOOTP or DHCP. Hosts for which no fixed address is specified can only
# be booted with DHCP, unless there is an address range on the subnet
# to which a BOOTP client is connected which has the dynamic-bootp flag
# set.
#host fantasia {
# hardware ethernet 08:00:07:26:c0:a5;sudo apt-get install dhcp3-server -y
# fixed-address fantasia.fugue.com;
#}
# You can declare a class of clients and then do address allocation
# based on that. The exaThe stock dhcp3mple below shows a case where all clients
# in a certain class get addresses on the 10.17.224/24 subnet, and all
# other clients get addresses on the 10.0.29/24 subnet.
#class "foo" {
# match if substring (option vendor-class-identifier, 0, 4) = "SUNW";
#}
#shared-network 224-29 {
# subnet 10.17.224.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
# option routers rtr-224.example.org;
# }
# subnet 10.0.29.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
# option routers rtr-29.example.org;
# }
# pool {
# allow members of "foo";
# range 10.17.224.10 10.17.224.250;
# }
# pool {
# deny members of "foo";
# range 10.0.29.10 10.0.29.230;
# }
#}
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
option broadcast-address 10.1.10.255;
option routers 10.1.10.1;
option domain-name-servers 10.1.10.30, 8.8.8.8, 8.8.4.4;
#option domain-name server.local;
# internal subnet
subnet 10.1.10.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
allow unknown-clients;
range 10.1.10.35 10.1.10.40;
server-name "server.local";
}
host markserver0 {
hardware ethernet insert-MAC-address;
fixed-address 10.1.10.29;
}
host markserver1 {
hardware ethernet insert-MAC-address;
fixed-address 10.1.10.30;
}
host left-ubuntu {
hardware ethernet insert-MAC-address;
fixed-address 10.1.10.11;
}
host right-ubuntu {
hardware ethernet insert-MAC-address;
fixed-address 10.1.10.58;
}
host julie {
allow unknown-clients;
hardware ethernet insert-MAC-address;
fixed-address 10.1.10.154;
}
host connor {
hardware ethernet insert-MAC-address;
fixed-address 10.1.10.93;
}</blockquote>
Conclusion
The end result of configuring a DHCP server is that you can completely control the DNS associations of the boxes on your network, regardless of Windows, Linux, or the bloody Comcast router. If you have done the job correctly, you should see that the domain-name-servers and server-name in your /etc/resolv.conf. Mine is shown below.
domain server.local search server.local nameserver 10.1.10.30 nameserver 8.8.8.8 nameserver 8.8.4.4
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January 15th, 2010 at 11:32 am
[...] a DHCP server on my home network. It was quite easy to setup the DHCP3 server on Ubuntu Linux. Read that post here. The main issue now is that any computer on the network that does not have a static ip assigned to [...]