The
dhclient
utility provides a means for configuring network interfaces using DHCP, BOOTP,
or if these protocols fail, by statically assigning an address.
The name of the network interface that
dhclient
should attempt to
configure must be specified on the command line.
The options are as follows:
-c file
Specify an alternate location,
file,
for the configuration file.
-d
Forces
dhclient
to always run as a foreground process.
By default,
dhclient
runs in the foreground until it has configured the interface, and then
will revert to running in the background.
-l file
Specify an alternate location,
file,
for the leases file.
-q
Forces
dhclient
to be less verbose on startup.
-u
Forces
dhclient
to reject leases with unknown options in them.
The default behaviour is to accept such lease offers.
The DHCP protocol allows a host to contact a central server which
maintains a list of IP addresses which may be assigned on one or more
subnets.
A DHCP client may request an address from this pool, and
then use it on a temporary basis for communication on the network.
The DHCP protocol also provides a mechanism whereby a client can learn
important details about the network to which it is attached, such as
the location of a default router, the location of a name server, and
so on.
On startup,
dhclient
reads
/etc/dhclient.conf
for configuration instructions.
It then gets a list of all the
network interfaces that are configured in the current system.
It then attempts to configure each interface with DHCP.
In order to keep track of leases across system reboots and server
restarts,
dhclient
keeps a list of leases it has been assigned in the
/var/db/dhclient.leases.IFNAME
file.
"IFNAME"
represents the network interface of the DHCP client
(e.g. em0),
one for each interface.
On startup, after reading the
dhclient.conf(5)
file,
dhclient
reads the leases file to refresh its memory about what leases it has been
assigned.
Old leases are kept around in case the DHCP server is unavailable when
dhclient
is first invoked (generally during the initial system boot
process).
In that event, old leases from the
dhclient.leases.IFNAME
file which have not yet expired are tested, and if they are determined to
be valid, they are used until either they expire or the DHCP server
becomes available.
A mobile host which may sometimes need to access a network on which no
DHCP server exists may be preloaded with a lease for a fixed
address on that network.
When all attempts to contact a DHCP server have failed,
dhclient
will try to validate the static lease, and if it
succeeds, it will use that lease until it is restarted.
A mobile host may also travel to some networks on which DHCP is not
available but BOOTP is.
In that case, it may be advantageous to
arrange with the network administrator for an entry on the BOOTP
database, so that the host can boot quickly on that network rather
than cycling through the list of old leases.
NOTES
You must have the Berkeley Packet Filter (BPF) configured in your kernel.
dhclient
requires at least one
/dev/bpf*
file for each broadcast network interface that is attached to your system.
See
bpf(4)
for more information.
-nosplitdhclient
was written by
Ted Lemon ‹mellon@fugue.com›
and
Elliot Poger ‹elliot@poger.com›.
The current implementation was reworked by
Henning Brauer ‹henning@openbsd.org›.