DHCPv4 Client Host Names

By default, the DHCPv4 client does not supply its own host name, because the client expects the DHCP server to supply the host name. The DHCPv4 server is configured to supply host names to DHCPv4 clients by default. When you use the DHCPv4 client and server together, these defaults work well. However, when you use the DHCPv4 client with some third-party DHCP servers, the client might not receive a host name from the server. If the DHCP client does not receive a host name through DHCP, the client system checks the value that is set in the config/nodename property in the svc:/system/identity:node service for a name to use as the host name. If the file is empty, the host name is set to unknown.

If the DHCP server supplies a name in the DHCP Hostname option, the client uses that host name, even if a different value is placed in the value that is set in the config/nodename property in the svc:/system/identity:node service. If you want the client to use a specific host name, you can enable the client to request that name. See the following procedure.

How to Enable a DHCPv4 Client to Request a Specific Host Name

The steps to perform depend on whether an IP interface already exists with a DHCP address.

1. If the IP interface already exists with a DHCP address, do the following:
   1. Delete the existing DHCP address.

      # ipadm delete-addr -r dhcp-addrobj

   2. Register a new DHCP address with a specific host name that you want to use.

      # ipadm create-addr -T dhcp -h hostname dhcp-addrobj

2. If the IP interface does not yet exist, do the following:
   1. Create the IP interface.

      # ipadm create-ip interface

   2. Register a DHCP address with a specific host name that you want to use.

      # ipadm create-addr -T dhcp -h hostname dhcp-addrobj