DHCP strangeness

[stueyboy]

OK I am new to Amahai and still love it. Probably an intermediate Linux user which has done me OK with Ubuntu since 6.10.

The DHCP server seems to work OK but doesn't correctly display the devices. For instance, right now, it is showing, my laptop, wifes iphone, lounge airtunes express and my blackberry with three ip addresses! It isn't showing the other airtunes I have in the kitchen and after a refresh it is now only showing one blackberry. not to mention it isn't showing my network printer either.

Bottom line is that the list of dhcp devices isn't consistent. Is this a feature or a bug? I'd like to help out with ironing these things out as the big things like dlna, daap, torrent and other servers are really excellent and my xbox on a static ip loves the whole lot, makes the home entertainment experience very nice.

Not critical but maybe others have this issue.

Ta

[cpg]

this is not a bug or a feature.

dhcp leases are basically like tickets to a raffle that expires.

some people leave before the show is over and when they called their ticket for a prize, they are gone.

basically, for one thing, every addition of one app reloads the table of dhcp leases. until a refresh comes in, the system does not know that the machine is alive. that is why it's empty after installing an app that has a webapp.

the current implementation of the dhcp server we have is lax about that ...

we used to have a short lease, partly for knowing what's up on the network in that sense. but some people complained that having a short lease was unnecessary traffic (!), it somehow interrupted some of their network streaming ... etc. so we had to raise it.

maybe some research you can do to find a more reliable way to collect and report what clients are there outstanding within a reasonable time?

[stueyboy]

Thanks and that makes sense. I was thinking that the table was a static (ish) list of all the leases which had been delivered to individual network locations but sounds like it is somethign different. I extended the lease time to 31 days as I have no real need to refresh addrersses very often.

[say592]

Im still getting used to the new version, but my suggestion would be to assign static leases to your devices. I find that the most convenient for auto-connecting to other devices for sharing and whatnot.

My personal thoughts on the lease time: It should be changeable, or extremely long. A network monitoring app (I cant recall if there is already one) could be used to see what devices are on the network, the bandwidth they are using, etc.

[gjc1000]

FYI: If I am not mistaken, static IP addresses should start under 100, for example 192.168.1.99 and work down. This will avoid conflicts with the DHCP leases
Also, I think you can change the lease time. Check on the dashboard: Setup -> Network -> Settings

[jerryzak]

I am seeing a similar situation.

DHCP is off on the router. Amahi handles both DHCP and local DNS.

All "infrastructure" equipment on my home network is assigned a static IP. Router has it "hardwired" via its own web configuration UI. Smart switch and wireless printer get their static leases from DHCP based on MAC address.

Client machines are getting dynamically assigned IP leases that are shown in HDA dashboard, Networking, DHCP.

Here is a twist however.

A computer I am writing this on will be listed by its hostname and IP address for a while. Than the list will get blanked / cleared at some point of time. Refreshing the web page does not make hosts / assignments reappear.

Using Webmin, Servers, DHCP Server, List Active Leases I can verify that the hosts are still assigned their respective IPs.

Now, if I power on a NEW host / computer, once it acquires its lease it will be shown in Amahi HDA dashboard + all the other entries will reappear.