dhcptab(4) File Formats dhcptab(4)NAMEdhcptab - DHCP configuration parameter table
DESCRIPTION
The dhcptab configuration table allows network administrators to orga‐
nize groups of configuration parameters as macro definitions, which can
then be referenced in the definition of other useful macros. These
macros are then used by the DHCP server to return their values to DHCP
and BOOTP clients.
The preferred method of managing the dhcptab is through the use of the
dhcpmgr(1M) or dhtadm(1M) utility. The description of dhcptab entries
included in this manual page is intended for informational purposes
only, and should not be used to manually edit entries.
You can view the contents of the dhcptab using the DHCP manager's tabs
for Macros and Options, or using the dhtadm -P command.
Syntax of dhcptab Entries
The format of a dhcptab table depends on the data store used to main‐
tain it. However, any dhcptab must contain the following fields in each
record:
Name This field identifies the macro or symbol record and is
used as a search key into the dhcptab table. The name
of a macro or symbol must consist of ASCII characters,
with the length limited to 128 characters. Names can
include spaces, except at the end of the name. The name
is not case-sensitive.
Type This field specifies the type of record and is used as
a search key into the dhcptab. Currently, there are
only two legal values for Type:
m This record is a DHCP macro definition.
s This record is a DHCP symbol defini‐
tion. It is used to define vendor and
site-specific options.
Value This field contains the value for the specified type of
record. For the m type, the value will consist of a
series of symbol=value pairs, separated by the colon
(:) character. For the s type, the value will consist
of a series of fields, separated by a comma (,), which
define a symbol's characteristics. Once defined, a sym‐
bol can be used in macro definitions.
Symbol Characteristics
The Value field of a symbols definition contain the following fields
describing the characteristics of a symbol:
Context This field defines the context in which the symbol def‐
inition is to be used. It can have one of the following
values:
Site
This symbol defines a site-specific option, codes
128-254.
Vendor=Client Class ...
This symbol defines a vendor-specific option, codes
1-254. The Vendor context takes ASCII string argu‐
ments which identify the client class that this
vendor option is associated with. Multiple client
class names can be specified, separated by white
space. Only those clients whose client class
matches one of these values will see this option.
For Sun machines, the Vendor client class matches
the value returned by the command uname -i on the
client, with periods replacing commas.
Code This field specifies the option code number associated
with this symbol. Valid values are 128-254 for site-
specific options, and 1-254 for vendor-specific
options.
Type This field defines the type of data expected as a value
for this symbol, and is not case-sensitive. Legal val‐
ues are:
ASCII NVT ASCII text. Value is enclosed in
double-quotes ("). Granularity setting
has no effect on symbols of this type,
since ASCII strings have a natural
granularity of one (1).
BOOLEAN No value is associated with this data
type. Presence of symbols of this type
denote boolean TRUE, whereas absence
denotes FALSE. Granularity and Miximum
values have no meaning for symbols of
this type.
IP Dotted decimal form of an Internet
address. Multi-IP address granularity
is supported.
NUMBER An unsigned number with a supported
granularity of 1, 2, 4, and 8 octets.
Valid NUMBER types are: UNUMBER8, SNUM‐
BER8, UNUMBER16, SNUMBER16, UNUMBER32,
SNUMBER32, UNUMBER64, and SNUMBER64.
See dhcp_inittab(4) for details.
OCTET Uninterpreted ASCII representation of
binary data. The client identifier is
one example of an OCTET string. Valid
characters are 0-9, a-f, A-F. One ASCII
character represents one nibble (4
bits), thus two ASCII characters are
needed to represent an 8 bit quantity.
The granularity setting has no effect
on symbols of this type, since OCTET
strings have a natural granularity of
one (1).
For example, to encode a sequence of
bytes with decimal values 77, 82, 5,
240, 14, the option value would be
encoded as 4d5205f00e. A macro which
supplies a value for option code 78,
SLP_DA, with a 0 Mandatory byte and
Directory Agents at 192.168.1.5 and
192.168.0.133 would appear in the
dhcptab as:
slpparams
Macro
:SLP_DA=00c0a80105c0a80085:
Granularity This value specifies how many objects of Type define a
single instance of the symbol value. For example, the
static route option is defined to be a variable list of
routes. Each route consists of two IP addresses, so the
Type is defined to be IP, and the data's granularity is
defined to be 2 IP addresses. The granularity field
affects the IP and NUMBER data types.
Maximum This value specifies the maximum items of Granularity
which are permissible in a definition using this sym‐
bol. For example, there can only be one IP address
specified for a subnet mask, so the Maximum number of
items in this case is one (1). A Maximum value of zero
(0) means that a variable number of items is permitted.
The following example defines a site-specific option (symbol) called
MystatRt, of code 130, type IP, and granularity 2, and a Maximum of 0.
This definition corresponds to the internal definition of the static
route option (StaticRt).
MystatRt s Site,130,IP,2,0
The following example demonstrates how a SLP Service Scope symbol
(SLP_SS) with a scope value of happy and mandatory byte set to 0 is
encoded. The first octet of the option is the Mandatory octet, which is
set either to 0 or 1. In this example, it is set to 0 (00). The balance
of the value is the hexidecimal ASCII code numbers representing the
name happy, that is, 6861707079.
SLP_SS=006861707079
Macro Definitions
The following example illustrates a macro defined using the MystatRt
site option symbol just defined:
10netnis m :MystatRt=3.0.0.0 10.0.0.30:
Macros can be specified in the Macro field in DHCP network tables (see
dhcp_network(4)), which will bind particular macro definitions to spe‐
cific IP addresses.
Up to four macro definitions are consulted by the DHCP server to deter‐
mine the options that are returned to the requesting client.
These macros are processed in the following order:
Client Class A macro named using the ASCII representation of
the client class (e.g. SUNW.Ultra-30) is
searched for in the dhcptab. If found, its sym‐
bol/value pairs will be selected for delivery
to the client. This mechanism permits the net‐
work administrator to select configuration
parameters to be returned to all clients of the
same class.
Network A macro named by the dotted Internet form of
the network address of the client's network
(for example, 10.0.0.0) is searched for in the
dhcptab. If found, its symbol/value pairs will
be combined with those of the Client Class
macro. If a symbol exists in both macros, then
the Network macro value overrides the value
defined in the Client Class macro. This mecha‐
nism permits the network administrator to
select configuration parameters to be returned
to all clients on the same network.
IP Address This macro may be named anything, but must be
specified in the DHCP network table for the IP
address record assigned to the requesting
client. If this macro is found in the dhcptab,
then its symbol/value pairs will be combined
with those of the Client Class macro and the
Network macro. This mechanism permits the net‐
work administrator to select configuration
parameters to be returned to clients using a
particular IP address. It can also be used to
deliver a macro defined to include "server-spe‐
cific" information by including this macro def‐
inition in all DHCP network table entries owned
by a specific server.
Client Identifier A macro named by the ASCII representation of
the client's unique identifier as shown in the
DHCP network table (see dhcp_network(4)). If
found, its symbol/value pairs are combined to
the sum of the Client Class, Network, and IP
Address macros. Any symbol collisions are
replaced with those specified in the client
identifier macro. The client mechanism permits
the network administrator to select configura‐
tion parameters to be returned to a particular
client, regardless of what network that client
is connected to.
Refer to System Administration Guide: IP Services for more information
about macro processing.
Refer to the dhcp_inittab(4) man page for more information about sym‐
bols used in Solaris DHCP.
SEE ALSOdhcpmgr(1M), dhtadm(1M), in.dhcpd(1M), dhcp_inittab(4), dhcp_net‐
work(4), dhcp(5)
System Administration Guide: IP Services
Alexander, S., and R. Droms, DHCP Options and BOOTP Vendor Extensions,
RFC 2132, Silicon Graphics, Inc., Bucknell University, March 1997.
Droms, R., Interoperation Between DHCP and BOOTP, RFC 1534, Bucknell
University, October 1993.
Droms, R., Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, RFC 2131, Bucknell Uni‐
versity, March 1997.
Wimer, W., Clarifications and Extensions for the Bootstrap Protocol,
RFC 1542, Carnegie Mellon University, October 1993.
SunOS 5.10 15 Mar 2002 dhcptab(4)