Clients not recieving IP's via DHCP

[Rudy Zijlstra]

Tim Philips wrote:
> Hi All,
>
>
> [sorry for the lengthy e-mail below]
>
>
>
> I'm trying to diagnose a very weird problem for a client.  They several
> Windows Vista clients on their network and they are having problems
> obtaining an IP address via DHCP (all other Windows XP and Linux clients
> are working fine).
>
> To try and diagnose this outside of the clients production network I
> have managed to replicate the problem in my personal network using my
> XBOX and Nintendo Wii (based on the information below) (all other Linux,
> Mac OSX and Windows clients work like a charm).
>
> The ISC DHCP version is 3.0.1-58.EL4 (installed from RPM on CentOS 4.4).
> The basic configuration for the DHCP server is as follows:
>
> server-identifier router;
> option domain-name-servers 192.168.2.1;
> option routers 192.168.2.1;
> option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;
> option broadcast-address 192.168.2.255;
> default-lease-time 7200;
> max-lease-time 50000;
> ignore client-updates;
> ddns-update-style none;
> next-server 192.168.2.1;
> authoritative;
>
> subnet 192.168.2.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
>         range 192.168.2.100 192.168.2.150;
> }
>
> host xbox {
>         hardware ethernet 00:0D:3A:4E:F4:DA;
>         fixed-address 192.168.2.252;
> }
>
> When I enable DHCP on the XBOX and bring up the clients Ethernet
> interface I see the following (as example) loops 12 times in the
> messages file:
>
> Feb  8 18:28:37 thinktank1 dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:0d:3a:4e:f4:da
> via eth0
> Feb  8 18:28:37 thinktank1 dhcpd: DHCPOFFER on 192.168.2.252 to
> 00:0d:3a:4e:f4:da via eth0
>
> There is no firewall between the XBOX and the DHCP server.
>
> I have put another client (Linux) on the network and executed tcpdump
> and I don't see anything coming back from the client after the DHCPOFFER
> has been sent.  Looking on several mailing lists and google (and
> friends) it indicates that the client may be expecting some additional
> options that the DHCP server isn't sending but I can't for the life of
> me figure out what.
>
> I have downloaded a Win32 DHCP client and installed that on a spare
> Windows XP computer and right away the client was able to obtain an IP
> address from the DHCP server, so I'm picking I have miss configured
> something with the options for the given clients under ISC. I have even
> attempted to set a static IP address on the client (which works fine).
>
>
> Any clues that would help me solve the problem would be much appreciated!
>
>
> Cheers ;)
>
>   
When you are sniffing the DISCOVER packets, take a look at which options 
the client is requesting, and which options are offered by the server. 
That might give you a clue.

You can also compare with the OFFER made by the Win DHCP server.

Cheers,

Rudy