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## Last updated : Tue Dec 15 03:57:57 1998
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When the bootpc code fails to find a suitable server or reply it
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> Unable to locate an IP address for this host.
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> ***Please report this problem**
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The client then goes into a loop forwever sleeping. The reason for
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this is that carrying on is probably foolish so it waits for a human
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to interrupt it and sort out the problem. If you really know what you
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are doing then you can set --returniffail to cause it to return.
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Using bootpc like this you can tell if your machine is connected to
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the network. I use this for machines which are sometimes on the net,
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but get taken home by their users sometimes.
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If it fails try running --debug --verbose to see if this sheds any
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The reasons it can fail that I've encountered are:
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o You are running on a 2.1.x Linux kernel which will not pass the
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bootp reply back to the client since the dest address doesn't match
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x Try the --serverbcast flag. It is a hack but seems to work with
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most of the common bootp servers and gets round the problem for now.
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A proper fix would either require kernel changes (which AC and ANK
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disaprove of), or reading the packets at a lower level and
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re-implementing most of the IP/UDP stuff in userland. If the
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--serverbcast flag doesn't work you *might* want to try using the
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kernel REDIRECT code from the firewall. I've not tested this.
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o No bootp server is serving this client on this network
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x Set one up. If you want to disable networking if there is no
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reply to bootp see the --returniffails option. There is support
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for this in rc.bootp now.
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o Your default network card doesn't get you to the local network, or is
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filtered or firewalled and not letting bootp packets through.
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x Try using --server IPaddress of the server, check the routes
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you have set allow all broadcast route to the local network.
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o You are using --server to point to a server which doesn't run a
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o Packets from bootpc don't reach the server, watching the network
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they seem to go somewhere else.
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x You have a default route set up which doesn't reach the bootp
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server. E.g. testing bootpc on a live system with the default
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route pointing at your external router.
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The rc.bootp script sets up a simple default route to the local
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net. If you can't see the bootp server from this you need a
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router which understands the bootp gateway protocol. For testing,
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just set --server to point at your local subnet's broadcast
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address. e.g. I use 131.111.16.255.
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o You are using --hwaddr and the bootp server responds directly to
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the MAC address quoted not to the machine generating the request.
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x Try not using it. In modern bootp servers you can tell it to
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broadcast the replies or reply to a known other address, this can
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be helpful for debugging.
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o The server doesn't understand RFC1497 cookies (you get not all the
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information back and a "WARNING bp_xid mismatch" probably.)
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x Install a newer bootp server, or make do with the information you
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can get from the old one.
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If these don't seem to be the problem, use strace to trace the
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execution with --debug and --verbose and mail me the output, repeat
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also with --server IPaddress so I can try to see what went wrong.
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e-mail them to J.S.Peatfield@damtp.cam.ac.uk, I'll try to reply with
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suggestions or more questions pretty soon.