How does a DHCP service need to be configured, so that it handles PXE requests while there is still another DHCP server on the network?
I managed to set up a working PXE system in a separate environment (one server for DHCP, TFTP and HTTP, one switch and one client) and I'm currently trying to integrate my system into our large corporate network.
There are existing DHCP appliances in the network and I have to make sure that my DHCP service won't interfere with the existing DHCP processes.
Up until now, my config defined a subnet from 192.168.2.0 to 192.168.2.255/24 with IPs given from 10 to 40. Finally, the machine that was running the services (192.168.2.1) was set as next-server and the filename was set to the iPXE binary I used (undionly.kpxe).
Now I would guess that, when using it only as a PXE server, I don't need to lease IPs anymore and therefore the only two settings that remain are next-server and filename.
But I can't think of what I need these setting to encapsulate in (the former subnet definition). Can I write the settings just without any subnet / host block or is there an "accept all"-subnet or something similar?
More information:
- OS: SLES 11.2
- Network boot firmware: iPXE 1.0.0
- Previous DHCP config
- Network hardware: Mainly Cisco switches
Note: From the discussion with kockiren I gathered that what I want is possible by using a proxy DHCP but that the default DHCP service doesn't support it.
I now configured my server according to his link as a proxy DHCP with Dnsmasq (Here) .
Best Answer
You cannot work with two DHCP servers in one network. There are some options to achieve the goal:
You can build a VLAN for your PXE Environment (with PXE/DHCP Server) and a second VLAN for your productive environment.
You can configure your productive DHCP for your PXE Environment, set BOOT address of your PXE Server
You can configure two different Networks (physical) for both environments
UPDATE: You can set your DHCP Proxy with Dnsmasq on your PXE Server