DHCP Keeps Stopping Unexpectedly.

Wed Nov 22 17:32:38 UTC 2006

I'm using the RHEL4 packages (also 3.0.1 plus RH patches), and saw a
similar issue a while ago. I didn't really want to update, so I worked
around it by dropping the following short script in /etc/cron.hourly

#!/bin/bash

# Check to see if DHCP is running. If not, start it.

# See if DHCP is running
if ( /sbin/service dhcpd status 2>&1 >/dev/null ); then
    # Yup. We don't need to do anything.
    :
else
    # Not so good. Lets get it going again.
    if ( /sbin/service dhcpd start ) ; then
        echo "Had to re-start DHCP on $HOSTNAME" | mail -s 'DHCP re-start' <admin-address>
    else
        echo "Tried to re-start DHCP on $HOSTNAME, but it didn't work" | mail -s 'DHCP re-start' <admin-address>
    fi
fi

Replace "<admin-address>" with a string that suits your fancy, and
you've got a workaround that Works For Me. No guarantees about what it
does for anyone else. If you want a real fix, the thing to do is
probably to upgrade dhcpd and see if you get any sort of related issue.

On Mon, 2006-11-20 at 13:14 -0500, Diego, Emil wrote:
> Hello all,
> 
> I am having an unusual problem with my DHCP server that I haven't been
> able to figure out.  I have a network of about 450 computers.  95% of
> those machines are using dynamic ip addresses from the dhcp server and
> the other 5% are getting static ip.
> 
> I am running Fedora Core 2 and dhcp-3.0.1rc14-1.  We are using NAT on
> our network so all the dynamic ip's are in 2 large pools, 10.39.6.11-240
> and 10.39.7.11-240.
> 
> Everything will be working fine untill all of a sudden the dhcp server
> stope granting leases.  The log file stops recording any activity from
> the dhcp server and the clients computers all start to loose their ip's
> as their leases start to expire.  Once the dhcp server is restarted
> using "/etc/init.d/dhcpd restart" everything starts working fine again.
> Any ideas on what it could be?
> 
> Here is a sample of the dchp messages right before it stops working:
> Nov 19 16:12:25 moya dhcpd: if sb402.business.edu IN A rrset doesn't
> exist add sb402.business.edu 5400 IN A 10.39.7.122: refused.
> Nov 19 16:12:25 moya dhcpd: DHCPREQUEST for 10.39.7.122 from
> 00:13:72:1c:e5:34 (sb402) via eth0
> Nov 19 16:12:25 moya dhcpd: DHCPACK on 10.39.7.122 to 00:13:72:1c:e5:34
> (sb402) via eth0
> Nov 19 16:12:26 moya dhcpd: DHCPINFORM from 10.39.7.151 via eth0
> Nov 19 16:12:26 moya dhcpd: DHCPACK to 10.39.7.151
> Nov 19 16:12:27 moya dhcpd: DHCPINFORM from 10.39.6.170 via eth0
> Nov 19 16:12:27 moya dhcpd: DHCPACK to 10.39.6.170
> Nov 19 16:12:29 moya dhcpd: if EEC-337A.business.edu IN A rrset doesn't
> exist add EEC-337A.business.edu 5400 IN A 10.39.6.235: refused.
> Nov 19 16:12:29 moya dhcpd: DHCPREQUEST for 10.39.6.235 from
> 00:0d:56:8e:d7:79 (EEC-337A) via eth0
> Nov 19 16:12:29 moya dhcpd: DHCPACK on 10.39.6.235 to 00:0d:56:8e:d7:79
> (EEC-337A) via eth0
> Nov 19 16:12:31 moya dhcpd: DHCPINFORM from 10.39.6.170 via eth0
> Nov 19 16:12:31 moya dhcpd: DHCPACK to 10.39.6.170
> Nov 19 16:12:31 moya dhcpd: DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.0.17 (192.168.0.1)
> from 00:17:94:04:b1:b1 via eth0: wrong network.
> Nov 19 16:12:31 moya dhcpd: DHCPNAK on 192.168.0.17 to 00:17:94:04:b1:b1
> via eth0
> Nov 19 16:12:35 moya dhcpd: DHCPREQUEST for 192.168.0.17 (192.168.0.1)
> from 00:17:94:04:b1:b1 via eth0: wrong network.
> Nov 19 16:12:35 moya dhcpd: DHCPNAK on 192.168.0.17 to 00:17:94:04:b1:b1
> via eth0
> Nov 19 16:12:37 moya dhcpd: if ZIFFC.business.edu IN A rrset doesn't
> exist add ZIFFC.business.edu 5400 IN A 10.39.6.85: refused.
> Nov 19 16:12:37 moya dhcpd: DHCPREQUEST for 10.39.6.85 from
> 00:12:3f:40:ae:0c (ZIFFC) via eth0
> Nov 19 16:12:37 moya dhcpd: DHCPACK on 10.39.6.85 to 00:12:3f:40:ae:0c
> (ZIFFC) via eth0
> 
> 
> After that last entry it just stops untill the service is restarted the
> next morning:
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Server
> V3.0.1rc14
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Copyright 2004 Internet Systems Consortium.
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: All rights reserved.
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: For info, please visit
> http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: dhcpd shutdown succeeded
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Server
> V3.0.1rc14
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Copyright 2004 Internet Systems Consortium.
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: All rights reserved.
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: For info, please visit
> http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Server
> V3.0.1rc14
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Copyright 2004 Internet Systems Consortium.
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: All rights reserved.
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: For info, please visit
> http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Wrote 0 deleted host decls to leases file.
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Wrote 0 new dynamic host decls to leases
> file.
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Wrote 0 deleted host decls to leases file.
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Wrote 0 new dynamic host decls to leases
> file.
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Wrote 380 leases to leases file.
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Wrote 380 leases to leases file.
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Listening on LPF/eth0/00:04:23:ad:fa:d4/SBA
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Sending on   LPF/eth0/00:04:23:ad:fa:d4/SBA
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Sending on   Socket/fallback/fallback-net
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Listening on LPF/eth0/00:04:23:ad:fa:d4/SBA
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Sending on   LPF/eth0/00:04:23:ad:fa:d4/SBA
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: Sending on   Socket/fallback/fallback-net
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: dhcpd startup succeeded
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:13:72:1c:e5:90 via eth0
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: DHCPOFFER on 10.39.0.49 to 00:13:72:1c:e5:90
> via eth0
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:11:43:ac:e7:51 via eth0
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: DHCPDISCOVER from 00:13:72:1c:2b:fd via eth0
> Nov 20 07:48:32 moya dhcpd: DHCPOFFER on 10.39.0.43 to 00:13:72:1c:2b:fd
> via eth0
> 
> 
> I can provide more information on the log files or the configuration
> file if needed, please let me know.  Thanks in advance for the help.
> 
> Emil
> 