Hi Ethan, based on our recent discussion, I have been investigating if Sun DHCP server can limit scope of particular macro based on client's platform making sure that macro as a whole is only processed for the client with matching client class.
Looking at the official documentation (please see the excerpt below), it doesn't seem to be available - it seems to me that the only way to take 'client class' into account during server side decision making process is to create macro with the same name, i.e. "SUNW.Sun-Blade-100" (the approach suggested in recent email thread discussing how to configure DHCP server for x86 & Sparc platform w/o need for creating client specific macros). But to be honest, I am not 100% sure if this implication is correct. Dave, since you are more familiar with this area, could I please ask you if you might help us to clarify if this observation might be correct or where could I take a look to further investigate ? Thank you very much, Jan ... Macro Processing by the DHCP Server ----------------------------------- When the DHCP server processes a macro, it places the network options and values defined in the macro in a DHCP message to a client. The server processes some macros automatically for clients of a particular type. For the server to process a macro automatically, the name of the macro must comply with one of the categories shown in the following table. Macro Category Description ------------------------------------------- Client class The macro name matches a class of client, indicated by the client machine type, operating system, or both. For example, if a server has a macro named SUNW.Sun-Blade-100, any client whose hardware implementation is SUNW,Sun-Blade-100 automatically receives the values in the SUNW.Sun-Blade-100 macro. Network address The macro name matches a DHCP-managed network IP address. For example, if a server has a macro named 10.53.224.0, any client connected to the 10.53.224.0 network automatically receives the values in the 10.53.224.0 macro. Client ID The macro name matches some unique identifier for the client, usually derived from an Ethernet or MAC address. For example, if a server has a macro named 08002011DF32, the client with the client ID 08002011DF32 (derived from the Ethernet address 8:0:20:11:DF:32) automatically receives the values in the macro named 08002011DF32. A macro with a name that does not use one of the categories listed in Table above can be processed only if one of the following is true: * The macro is mapped to an IP address. * The macro is included in another macro that is processed automatically. * The macro is included in another macro that is mapped to an IP address. ... Order of Macro Processing ------------------------- When a DHCP client requests DHCP services, the DHCP server determines which macros match the client. The server processes the macros, using the macro categories to determine the order of processing. The most general category is processed first, and the most specific category is processed last. The macros are processed in the following order: 1. Client class macros ? The most general category 2. Network address macros ? More specific than Client class 3. Macros mapped to IP addresses ? More specific than Network address 4. Client ID macros ? The most specific category, pertaining to one client A macro that is included in another macro is processed as part of the container macro. If the same option is included in more than one macro, the value for that option in the macro with the most specific category is used because it is processed last. ...
