The new version of dnsmasq (2.48) supports functioning as a "proxy dhcp
server". This is defined in the PXE specification as an "auxiliary"
server, which does not concern itself with IP leases, but only provides
whatever boot information is needed by PXE clients: the tftp server, the
boot filename, the root path etc.
This can be really handy for LTSP (and is the reason why I asked the
dnsmasq and gPXE developers to implement it - many thanks, Simon and
Michael): automatic DHCP configuration is now possible in many typical
LTSP environments, even when another, unmodifiable DHCP server is
present.
To make it easier for teachers, I implemented an ltsp-server-pnp ("plug
'n' play") package which (hopefully) automatically configures dnsmasq to
cope with the following scenarios:
* If the LTSP server has only 1 NIC, and an external DHCP server
is present (usually a router or a windows server),
ltsp-server-pnp configures dnsmasq to function as a proxy dhcp
server. So the clients are able to boot without changing
anything in the existing dhcp server configuration.
* If the LTSP server has 2 or more NICs, the "public" one is
configured in proxy-dhcp mode (because a DHCP server is assumed
to be already present there), and the "private" ones are
configured in normal DHCP server mode. That should cover the
classical 2-switches setup usually proposed for LTSP.
* The dnsmasq configuration is automatically updated by an if-up
script whenever an IP is assigned to a server NIC.
The /etc/ltsp/dnsmasq.conf.template configuration file is really easy to
modify to make it work for cases other than the above.
The ltsp-server-pnp package can be found in this PPA:
https://launchpad.net/~ts.sch.gr/+archive/ppa
where dnsmasq 2.48 is also backported for Ubuntu 9.04.
It *replaces* ltsp-server-standalone and dhcp3-server, so be careful
while testing it. It's a beta package, it might not work for you, but I
think the new dnsmasq has a great potential to help in automatic LTSP
configuration.
Also notice that while it works fine with PXE clients, and with recent
gPXE (http://rom-o-matic.net/gpxe/gpxe-git/gpxe.git/contrib/rom-o-matic)
clients, it *does not work* with older Etherboot clients (without
flashing them with gPXE), because they don't implement the PXE proxy
DHCP specification.
I'd appreciate any thoughts on how to improve automatic configuration
(the algorithm is described in the README file), any beta testing,
packaging hints or whatever other feedback you think is needed.
Kind regards,
Alkis Georgopoulos
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