[Dnsmasq-discuss] Feature request: make dnsmasq able to work as a proxydhcp

Simon Kelley simon at thekelleys.org.uk
Wed Mar 25 17:13:00 GMT 2009


Άλκης Γεωργόπουλος wrote:
> To boot from the network, a PXE client has to get some parameters like
> the boot filename etc.
> There are some environments (e.g. some school LTSP labs) where PXE
> booting is desired, but a DHCP server is already running somewhere on
> the network and it cannot be modified to also send the necessary boot
> parameters.
> In these cases, a PXE server (proxydhcp) would be really handy (defined
> in paragraph 2.2.3 of
> http://download.intel.com/design/archives/wfm/downloads/pxespec.pdf)
> 
> This PXE server would run on a different machine than the
> existing/unmodifiable DHCP server, it would listen for DHCPREQUESTs in
> port 69, and it would reply to the clients with extended DHCPOFFERs to
> port 68. These extended offers would contain the necessary boot
> information, but not ip/lease information.
> 
> AFAIK there aren't any open source proxydhcp implementations, so it
> would be really helpful if dnsmasq had the ability to (also) act as a
> proxydhcp (sending only extended but not normal dhcp offers).
> 
> Kind regards,
> Alkis Georgopoulos
> 

The PXE document makes RFCs look like a model of clarity. Do you know 
exactly what functionality is required? Is it just listening on port 4011?

In priciple I'm happy to consider this, as long as the amount of code 
required is not large, since a very small proportion of dnsmasq will use 
it. Even those people who netboot using dnsmasq, tend to just use the 
PXE ROMs to load a second-stage bootloader like PXELINUX and bypass the 
crazy complexity in the PXE system.

Cheers,

Simon.






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