[Dnsmasq-discuss] Feature suggestion - please allow using a tag to conditionally set the tftp-root setting

Mike Gore magore at sympatico.ca
Thu Oct 12 21:16:22 BST 2017


Feature suggestion: please allow using a tag to conditionally set the  
tftp-root  setting

Why ? not all devices use the dhcp-boot option fully, if at all, so when 
combined with tftp-root it fails to permit fully specifying the path of  
the boot file. The result is that we must put all files from such 
clients in the main  tftp-root folder as a work around. This is fine if 
all file names are unique. This is often not the case in practice when 
booting differing version of a OS for example.

# Proposed solution example using raspberry pi booting ( this is also a 
client that does not honor the dhcp-boot option path)
# Set default system tftp-root path for all clients
tftp-root=/tftpboot/pxes

# One of many possible options to identify a Raspberry PI device
dhcp-mac=set:RASPBERRYPI,b8:27:eb:*:*:*
# **** NEW OPTION ****  Use a unique  tftp-boot  for options matching 
the tags
tftp-root=tag:RASPBERRYPI, /tftpboot/pxes/raspberrypi

# end of example

This would permit such devices to coexist on the same network and still 
have their boot files isolated to a specific directory for that purpose.
Further my understanding of the use of the dhcp-boot related RFCs is 
that  some devices may only honor the basename of the path - if at all.
This new option could resolve all such cases. Lastly most other tftp 
boot projects allow the default root to be conditionally set as with 
other options as it is highly useful.



PS I do know that there is a MAC or IP option with tftp-root - but still 
there is no tagging option - so you can not group classes of devices 
using tests

FYI I love dnsmasq for its integrated simplicity - this is the only 
issue in mays years of using it that may force me to ultimately give it up.
I use it in all of the clusters I support of the University or Waterloo 
and for imaging computers - it is a great project.


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