Abandoned messages.

[Bruce Hudson]

> Why would a client go through the whole discover/offer/request/ack then
> the server at the end of it say declined, when the client ACK'd the
> request?

    The normal reason is that the client does a gratuitous ARP to check
that the IP address is not already in use. If if is, it declines the
lease and the server abandons the address. The server will not re-use an
abandoned address unless there are no others available; in which case it
uses the previously abandoned addresses as a last resort.

    In short, it appears you have an almost full pool and a rogue system
that is using one of your addresses without leasing it.
--
Bruce A. Hudson				| Bruce.Hudson at Dal.CA
UCIS, Networks and Systems		|
Dalhousie University			|
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada		| (902) 494-3405