Re: [dhcwg] "client identifier" in server replies

On Tuesday 08 July 2003 20.44, Ted Lemon wrote:
> On Tuesday 08 July 2003 07:49, Bud Millwood wrote:
> > Filling out chaddr and htype *will* eliminate the problem. As long as
> > client id is also present, the device will be identified with client id
> > (which is the preferred identifier).
>
> Bud, there are some cases, particularly with firewire, where there is no
> way to fill out the hardware address.   Of course it needs to be filled out
> in other cases - the protocol requires it.

It would seem that if you do not have a hardware address, the only way to 
guarantee that a response is for you is if your client identifier is in the 
packet, since that's guaranteed to be unique on the "subnet" ("segment" seems 
a better word choice - 2131.2p5). And XID then only needs to be unique across 
DHCP transactions on the specific client.

I don't recall seeing anything that stated that chaddr *must* be globally 
unique for a given htype, so is it not possible to assume that if your client 
identifier is unique for your segment, that it could also qualify as a 
chaddr?

I can hear the groans now. :) 16 bytes is arbitrary, and this makes a direct 
link between chaddr and clientid, but only at the client side, and only for 
packet identification.

If not, Narasimha's proposal is the only solution I can see.

Bud Millwood
Weird Solutions, Inc.
http://www.weird-solutions.com
tel: +46 8 758 3700
fax: +46 8 758 3687
mailto:budm@weird-solutions.com

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