MAC addresses, hostnames, and DHCP

Fred puissante at lrc.puissante.com
Thu Dec 1 17:40:00 EST 2005


I have a possible suggestion:

Use PowerDNS and scripting around your DHCP server.

http://www.powerdns.com/

Since PowerDNS is database driven (I'm using it in conjunction with MySQL, 
but it can be configured to work with any database), you simply have a 
script called by DHCP to assign the name to the first MAC that comes up.

If both MACs are present on the network, you could assign the same name to 
both. Or -- better yet -- work out a way to assign the fastest interface to 
the name.

You may have to find a way to plug into ARP to know when the interfaces go 
away, at which point you can dissolve the dynamic configuration. Or perhaps 
a simple ping would do. Or some other way can be sought. Or perhaps not even 
bother -- since you'll know when the next DHCP request comes in anyway.

Just my 2 cents. I rather like PowerDNS -- and they do provide a way to 
migrate your zone files into a database schema.  Been using it for 2 or 3 
months now and it is rock solid. Has been holding up nicely on my very busy 
server. The only problem I've found with it is that if you have to restart 
your database, you have to restart PowerDNS afterward. Not a biggie, but 
something to be aware of.

-Fred



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