System Administration Guide: IP Services

Configuring DHCP Servers

When you configure a DHCP server, DHCP Manager starts the DHCP Configuration Wizard, which prompts you for information that is needed to configure the server. The initial screen of the wizard is shown in the following figure.

Figure 14–2 DHCP Configuration Wizard's Initial Screen

Dialog box shows storage choices, back and forward arrows,
and Cancel and Help buttons.

When you finish answering the wizard prompts, DHCP Manager creates the items that are listed in the following table.

Table 14–1 Items Created During DHCP Server Configuration

Item 

Description 

Contents 

Service configuration file, /etc/inet/dhcpsvc.conf

Records keywords and values for server configuration options. 

Data store type and location, and options that are used with in.dhcpd to start the DHCP daemon when the system boots. Do not edit this file manually. You must use dhcpmgr or dhcpconfig to modify DHCP configuration information.

dhcptab table

DHCP Manager creates a dhcptab table if the table does not already exist.

Macros and options with assigned values. 

Locale macro (optional), which is named Locale

Contains the local time zone's offset in seconds from Universal time (UTC). 

UTCoffst option with assigned number of seconds.

Server macro, which is named to match the server's node name

Contains options whose values are determined by input from the administrator who configured the DHCP server. Options apply to all clients that use addresses owned by the server. 

The Locale macro, plus the following options:

  • Timeserv, set to point to the server's primary IP address.

  • LeaseTim, set to the number of seconds for the leases.

  • LeaseNeg, if you selected negotiable leases.

  • DNSdmain and DNSserv, if DNS is configured.

  • Hostname, which must not be assigned a value. The presence of this option indicates that the host name must be obtained from the name service.

Network address macro, whose name is the same as the network address of client's network

Contains options whose values are determined by input from the administrator who configured the DHCP server. Options apply to all clients that reside on the network specified by the macro name. 

The following options:  

  • Subnet, set to the subnet mask for the local subnet

  • Router, set to the IP address of a router, or RDiscvyF, to cause the client to use router discovery

  • Broadcst, set to the broadcast IP address. This option is present only if the network is not a Point-to-Point network.

  • MTU, for the maximum transmission unit

  • NISdmain and NISservs, if NIS is configured

  • NIS+dom and NIS+serv, if NIS+ is configured

Network table for the network

An empty table is created until you create IP addresses for the network. 

No content until you add IP addresses.