dhcp-options - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol options
Contents
Accessing Dhcpv6 Relay Options
v6relay(relay-number, option) This option allows access to an option that has been added to a packet by
a relay agent. Relay-number value selects the relay to examine and option is the option to find. In
DHCPv6 each relay encapsulates the entire previous message into an option, adds its own options (if any)
and sends the result onwards. The RFC specifies a limit of 32 hops. A relay-number of 0 is a no-op and
means don't look at the relays. 1 is the relay that is closest to the client, 2 would be the next in
from the client and so on. Any value greater than the max number of hops is which is closest to the
server independent of number. To use this option in a class statement you would have something like
this:
match if v6relay(1, option dhcp6.subscriber-id) = "client_1";
Defining New Options
The Internet Systems Consortium DHCP client and server provide the capability to define new options.
Each DHCP option has a name, a code, and a structure. The name is used by you to refer to the option.
The code is a number, used by the DHCP server and client to refer to an option. The structure describes
what the contents of an option looks like.
To define a new option, you need to choose a name for it that is not in use for some other option - for
example, you can't use "host-name" because the DHCP protocol already defines a host-name option, which is
documented earlier in this manual page. If an option name doesn't appear in this manual page, you can
use it, but it's probably a good idea to put some kind of unique string at the beginning so you can be
sure that future options don't take your name. For example, you might define an option, "local-host-
name", feeling some confidence that no official DHCP option name will ever start with "local".
Once you have chosen a name, you must choose a code. All codes between 224 and 254 are reserved as
´site-local´ DHCP options, so you can pick any one of these for your site (not for your
product/application). In RFC3942, site-local space was moved from starting at 128 to starting at 224.
In practice, some vendors have interpreted the protocol rather loosely and have used option code values
greater than 128 themselves. There's no real way to avoid this problem, and it was thought to be
unlikely to cause too much trouble in practice. If you come across a vendor-documented option code in
either the new or old site-local spaces, please contact your vendor and inform them about rfc3942.
The structure of an option is simply the format in which the option data appears. The ISC DHCP server
currently supports a few simple types, like integers, booleans, strings and IP addresses, and it also
supports the ability to define arrays of single types or arrays of fixed sequences of types.
New options are declared as follows:
optionnew-namecodenew-code=definition;
The values of new-name and new-code should be the name you have chosen for the new option and the code
you have chosen. The definition should be the definition of the structure of the option.
The following simple option type definitions are supported:
BOOLEANoptionnew-namecodenew-code=boolean;
An option of type boolean is a flag with a value of either on or off (or true or false). So an example
use of the boolean type would be:
option use-zephyr code 180 = boolean;
option use-zephyr on;
INTEGERoptionnew-namecodenew-code=signintegerwidth;
The sign token should either be blank, unsigned or signed. The width can be either 8, 16 or 32, and
refers to the number of bits in the integer. So for example, the following two lines show a definition
of the sql-connection-max option and its use:
option sql-connection-max code 192 = unsigned integer 16;
option sql-connection-max 1536;
IP-ADDRESSoptionnew-namecodenew-code=ip-address;
An option whose structure is an IP address can be expressed either as a domain name or as a dotted quad.
So the following is an example use of the ip-address type:
option sql-server-address code 193 = ip-address;
option sql-server-address sql.example.com;
IP6-ADDRESSoptionnew-namecodenew-code=ip6-address;
An option whose structure is an IPv6 address must be expressed as a valid IPv6 address. The following is
an example use of the ip6-address type:
option dhcp6.some-server code 1234 = array of ip6-address;
option dhcp6.some-server 3ffe:bbbb:aaaa:aaaa::1, 3ffe:bbbb:aaaa:aaaa::2;
TEXToptionnew-namecodenew-code=text;
An option whose type is text will encode an ASCII text string. For example:
option sql-default-connection-name code 194 = text;
option sql-default-connection-name "PRODZA";
DATASTRINGoptionnew-namecodenew-code=string;
An option whose type is a data string is essentially just a collection of bytes, and can be specified
either as quoted text, like the text type, or as a list of hexadecimal contents separated by colons whose
values must be between 0 and FF. For example:
option sql-identification-token code 195 = string;
option sql-identification-token 17:23:19:a6:42:ea:99:7c:22;
DOMAIN-LISToptionnew-namecodenew-code=domain-list[compressed];
An option whose type is domain-list is an RFC1035 formatted (on the wire, "DNS Format") list of domain
names, separated by root labels. The optional compressed keyword indicates if the option should be
compressed relative to the start of the option contents (not the packet contents).
When in doubt, omit the compressed keyword. When the software receives an option that is compressed and
the compressed keyword is omitted, it will still decompress the option (relative to the option contents
field). The keyword only controls whether or not transmitted packets are compressed.
Note that when domain-list formatted options are output as environment variables to dhclient-script(8),
the standard DNS -escape mechanism is used: they are decimal. This is appropriate for direct use in eg
/etc/resolv.conf.
ENCAPSULATIONoptionnew-namecodenew-code=encapsulateidentifier;
An option whose type is encapsulate will encapsulate the contents of the option space specified in
identifier. Examples of encapsulated options in the DHCP protocol as it currently exists include the
vendor-encapsulated-options option, the netware-suboptions option and the relay-agent-information option.
option space local;
option local.demo code 1 = text;
option local-encapsulation code 197 = encapsulate local;
option local.demo "demo";
ARRAYS
Options can contain arrays of any of the above types except for the text and data string types, which
aren't currently supported in arrays. An example of an array definition is as follows:
option kerberos-servers code 200 = array of ip-address;
option kerberos-servers 10.20.10.1, 10.20.11.1;
RECORDS
Options can also contain data structures consisting of a sequence of data types, which is sometimes
called a record type. For example:
option contrived-001 code 201 = { boolean, integer 32, text };
option contrived-001 on 1772 "contrivance";
It's also possible to have options that are arrays of records, for example:
option new-static-routes code 201 = array of {
ip-address, ip-address, ip-address, integer 8 };
option static-routes
10.0.0.0 255.255.255.0 net-0-rtr.example.com 1,
10.0.1.0 255.255.255.0 net-1-rtr.example.com 1,
10.2.0.0 255.255.224.0 net-2-0-rtr.example.com 3;
Description
The Dynamic Host Configuration protocol allows the client to receive options from the DHCP server
describing the network configuration and various services that are available on the network. When
configuring dhcpd(8) or dhclient(8), options must often be declared. The syntax for declaring options,
and the names and formats of the options that can be declared, are documented here.
Including Option Definitions
Starting with 4.3.0 when ISC adds new option definitions those definitions will be included in the code
based on the definition of an argument for the RFC that defines the option in includes/site.h. This
provides you with a method for over-riding the ISC definitions if necessary - for example if you have
previously defined the option with a different format using the mechanism from DEFINING NEW OPTIONS
below.
By default all of the options are enabled. In order to disable an option you would edit the
includes/site.h file and comment out the definition for the proper RFC.
Name
dhcp-options - Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol options
Reference: Option Statements
DHCP option statements always start with the option keyword, followed by an option name, followed by
option data. The option names and data formats are described below. It is not necessary to exhaustively
specify all DHCP options - only those options which are needed by clients must be specified.
Option data comes in a variety of formats, as defined below:
The ip-address data type can be entered either as an explicit IP address (e.g., 239.254.197.10) or as a
domain name (e.g., haagen.isc.org). When entering a domain name, be sure that that domain name resolves
to a single IP address. Additionally, please note the software (dhcpd or dhclient) will only attempt to
resolve the domain name the first time the option is needed. For example, if the next-server option is
defined as a domain name, dhcpd will attempt to resolve it while responding to the first client query
dhcpd receives after startup. Should the domain's address subsequently change, the software has to be
restarted in order to pick up the change.
The ip6-address data specifies an IPv6 address, like ::1 or 3ffe:bbbb:aaaa:aaaa::1.
The int32 data type specifies a signed 32-bit integer. The uint32 data type specifies an unsigned 32-bit
integer. The int16 and uint16 data types specify signed and unsigned 16-bit integers. The int8 and
uint8 data types specify signed and unsigned 8-bit integers. Unsigned 8-bit integers are also sometimes
referred to as octets.
The text data type specifies an NVT ASCII string, which must be enclosed in double quotes - for example,
to specify a root-path option, the syntax would be
option root-path "10.0.1.4:/var/tmp/rootfs";
The domain-name data type specifies a domain name, which must not be enclosed in double quotes. The
domain name is stored just as if it were a text option.
The domain-list data type specifies a list of domain names, enclosed in double quotes and separated by
commas ("example.com", "foo.example.com").
The flag data type specifies a boolean value. Booleans can be either true or false (or on or off, if
that makes more sense to you).
The string data type specifies either an NVT ASCII string enclosed in double quotes, or a series of
octets specified in hexadecimal, separated by colons. For example:
option dhcp-client-identifier "CLIENT-FOO";
or
option dhcp-client-identifier 43:4c:49:45:54:2d:46:4f:4f;
Relay Agent Information Option
An IETF draft, draft-ietf-dhc-agent-options-11.txt, defines a series of encapsulated options that a relay
agent can add to a DHCP packet when relaying it to the DHCP server. The server can then make address
allocation decisions (or whatever other decisions it wants) based on these options. The server also
returns these options in any replies it sends through the relay agent, so that the relay agent can use
the information in these options for delivery or accounting purposes.
The current draft defines two options. To reference these options in the dhcp server, specify the option
space name, "agent", followed by a period, followed by the option name. It is not normally useful to
define values for these options in the server, although it is permissible. These options are not
supported in the client.
optionagent.circuit-idstring;
The circuit-id suboption encodes an agent-local identifier of the circuit from which a DHCP client-to-
server packet was received. It is intended for use by agents in relaying DHCP responses back to the
proper circuit. The format of this option is currently defined to be vendor-dependent, and will
probably remain that way, although the current draft allows for the possibility of standardizing the
format in the future.
optionagent.remote-idstring;
The remote-id suboption encodes information about the remote host end of a circuit. Examples of what
it might contain include caller ID information, username information, remote ATM address, cable modem
ID, and similar things. In principal, the meaning is not well-specified, and it should generally be
assumed to be an opaque object that is administratively guaranteed to be unique to a particular remote
end of a circuit.
optionagent.DOCSIS-device-classuint32;
The DOCSIS-device-class suboption is intended to convey information about the host endpoint, hardware,
and software, that either the host operating system or the DHCP server may not otherwise be aware of
(but the relay is able to distinguish). This is implemented as a 32-bit field (4 octets), each bit
representing a flag describing the host in one of these ways. So far, only bit zero (being the least
significant bit) is defined in RFC3256. If this bit is set to one, the host is considered a CPE
Controlled Cable Modem (CCCM). All other bits are reserved.
optionagent.link-selectionip-address;
The link-selection suboption is provided by relay agents to inform servers what subnet the client is
actually attached to. This is useful in those cases where the giaddr (where responses must be sent to
the relay agent) is not on the same subnet as the client. When this option is present in a packet from
a relay agent, the DHCP server will use its contents to find a subnet declared in configuration, and
from here take one step further backwards to any shared-network the subnet may be defined within; the
client may be given any address within that shared network, as normally appropriate.
See Also
dhcpd.conf(5), dhcpd.leases(5), dhclient.conf(5), dhcp-eval(5), dhcpd(8), dhclient(8), RFC2132, RFC2131,
RFC3046, RFC3315.
Setting Option Values Using Expressions
Sometimes it's helpful to be able to set the value of a DHCP option based on some value that the client
has sent. To do this, you can use expression evaluation. The dhcp-eval(5) manual page describes how to
write expressions. To assign the result of an evaluation to an option, define the option as follows:
optionmy-option=expression;
For example:
option hostname = binary-to-ascii (16, 8, "-",
substring (hardware, 1, 6));
Standard Dhcpv4 Options
The documentation for the various options mentioned below is taken from the latest IETF draft document on
DHCP options. Options not listed below may not yet be implemented, but it is possible to use such
options by defining them in the configuration file. Please see the DEFINING NEW OPTIONS heading later in
this document for more information.
Some of the options documented here are automatically generated by the DHCP server or by clients, and
cannot be configured by the user. The value of such an option can be used in the configuration file of
the receiving DHCP protocol agent (server or client), for example in conditional expressions. However,
the value of the option cannot be used in the configuration file of the sending agent, because the value
is determined only after the configuration file has been processed. In the following documentation, such
options will be shown as "not user configurable"
The standard options are:
optionall-subnets-localflag;
This option specifies whether or not the client may assume that all subnets of the IP network to which
the client is connected use the same MTU as the subnet of that network to which the client is directly
connected. A value of true indicates that all subnets share the same MTU. A value of false means that
the client should assume that some subnets of the directly connected network may have smaller MTUs.
optionarp-cache-timeoutuint32;
This option specifies the timeout in seconds for ARP cache entries.
optionassociated-ipip-address [,ip-address... ];
This option is part of lease query. It is used to return all of the IP addresses associated with a
given DHCP client.
This option is not user configurable.
optionbcms-controller-addressip-address [,ip-address... ];
This option configures a list of IPv4 addresses for use as Broadcast and Multicast Controller Servers
("BCMS").
optionbcms-controller-namesdomain-list;
This option contains the domain names of local Broadcast and Multicast Controller Servers ("BCMS")
controllers which the client may use.
optionbootfile-nametext;
This option is used to identify a bootstrap file. If supported by the client, it should have the same
effect as the filename declaration. BOOTP clients are unlikely to support this option. Some DHCP
clients will support it, and others actually require it.
optionboot-sizeuint16;
This option specifies the length in 512-octet blocks of the default boot image for the client.
optionbroadcast-addressip-address;
This option specifies the broadcast address in use on the client's subnet. Legal values for broadcast
addresses are specified in section 3.2.1.3 of STD 3 (RFC1122).
optioncapwap-ac-v4ip-address [,ip-address ... ] ;
A list of IPv4 addresses of CAPWAP ACs that the WTP may use. The addresses are listed in preference
order.
This option is included based on RFC 5417.
optionclient-last-transaction-timeuint32;
This option is part of lease query. It allows the receiver to determine the time of the most recent
access by the client. The value is a duration in seconds from when the client last communicated with
the DHCP server.
This option is not user configurable.
optioncookie-serversip-address [,ip-address... ];
The cookie server option specifies a list of RFC 865 cookie servers available to the client. Servers
should be listed in order of preference.
optiondefault-ip-ttluint8;
This option specifies the default time-to-live that the client should use on outgoing datagrams.
optiondefault-tcp-ttluint8;
This option specifies the default TTL that the client should use when sending TCP segments. The
minimum value is 1.
optiondefault-urlstring;
The format and meaning of this option is not described in any standards document, but is claimed to be
in use by Apple Computer. It is not known what clients may reasonably do if supplied with this option.
Use at your own risk.
optiondhcp-client-identifierstring;
This option can be used to specify a DHCP client identifier in a host declaration, so that dhcpd can
find the host record by matching against the client identifier.
Please be aware that some DHCP clients, when configured with client identifiers that are ASCII text,
will prepend a zero to the ASCII text. So you may need to write:
option dhcp-client-identifier "\0foo";
rather than:
option dhcp-client-identifier "foo";
optiondhcp-lease-timeuint32;
This option is used in a client request (DHCPDISCOVER or DHCPREQUEST) to allow the client to request a
lease time for the IP address. In a server reply (DHCPOFFER), a DHCP server uses this option to
specify the lease time it is willing to offer.
This option is not directly user configurable in the server; refer to the max-lease-time and default-lease-time server options in dhcpd.conf(5).optiondhcp-max-message-sizeuint16;
This option, when sent by the client, specifies the maximum size of any response that the server sends
to the client. When specified on the server, if the client did not send a dhcp-max-message-size
option, the size specified on the server is used. This works for BOOTP as well as DHCP responses.
optiondhcp-messagetext;
This option is used by a DHCP server to provide an error message to a DHCP client in a DHCPNAK message
in the event of a failure. A client may use this option in a DHCPDECLINE message to indicate why the
client declined the offered parameters.
This option is not user configurable.
optiondhcp-message-typeuint8;
This option, sent by both client and server, specifies the type of DHCP message contained in the DHCP
packet. Possible values (taken directly from RFC2132) are:
1 DHCPDISCOVER
2 DHCPOFFER
3 DHCPREQUEST
4 DHCPDECLINE
5 DHCPACK
6 DHCPNAK
7 DHCPRELEASE
8 DHCPINFORM
This option is not user configurable.
optiondhcp-option-overloaduint8;
This option is used to indicate that the DHCP ´sname´ or ´file´ fields are being overloaded by using
them to carry DHCP options. A DHCP server inserts this option if the returned parameters will exceed
the usual space allotted for options.
If this option is present, the client interprets the specified additional fields after it concludes
interpretation of the standard option fields.
Legal values for this option are:
1 the ´file´ field is used to hold options
2 the ´sname´ field is used to hold options
3 both fields are used to hold options
This option is not user configurable.
optiondhcp-parameter-request-listuint8 [,uint8... ];
This option, when sent by the client, specifies which options the client wishes the server to return.
Normally, in the ISC DHCP client, this is done using the request statement. If this option is not
specified by the client, the DHCP server will normally return every option that is valid in scope and
that fits into the reply. When this option is specified on the server, the server returns the
specified options. This can be used to force a client to take options that it hasn't requested, and it
can also be used to tailor the response of the DHCP server for clients that may need a more limited set
of options than those the server would normally return.
optiondhcp-rebinding-timeuint32;
This option specifies the number of seconds from the time a client gets an address until the client
transitions to the REBINDING state.
This option is user configurable, but it will be ignored if the value is greater than or equal to the
lease time.
To make DHCPv4+DHCPv6 migration easier in the future, any value configured in this option is also used
as a DHCPv6 "T1" (renew) time.
optiondhcp-renewal-timeuint32;
This option specifies the number of seconds from the time a client gets an address until the client
transitions to the RENEWING state.
This option is user configurable, but it will be ignored if the value is greater than or equal to the
rebinding time, or lease time.
To make DHCPv4+DHCPv6 migration easier in the future, any value configured in this option is also used
as a DHCPv6 "T2" (rebind) time.
optiondhcp-requested-addressip-address;
This option is used by the client in a DHCPDISCOVER to request that a particular IP address be
assigned.
This option is not user configurable.
optiondhcp-server-identifierip-address;
This option is used in DHCPOFFER and DHCPREQUEST messages, and may optionally be included in the
DHCPACK and DHCPNAK messages. DHCP servers include this option in the DHCPOFFER in order to allow the
client to distinguish between lease offers. DHCP clients use the contents of the ´server identifier´
field as the destination address for any DHCP messages unicast to the DHCP server. DHCP clients also
indicate which of several lease offers is being accepted by including this option in a DHCPREQUEST
message.
The value of this option is the IP address of the server.
This option is not directly user configurable. See the server-identifier server option in
dhcpd.conf(5).optiondomain-nametext;
This option specifies the domain name that client should use when resolving hostnames via the Domain
Name System.
optiondomain-name-serversip-address [,ip-address... ];
The domain-name-servers option specifies a list of Domain Name System (STD 13, RFC 1035) name servers
available to the client. Servers should be listed in order of preference.
optiondomain-searchdomain-list;
The domain-search option specifies a ´search list´ of Domain Names to be used by the client to locate
not-fully-qualified domain names. The difference between this option and historic use of the domain-
name option for the same ends is that this option is encoded in RFC1035 compressed labels on the wire.
For example:
option domain-search "example.com", "sales.example.com",
"eng.example.com";
optionextensions-pathtext;
This option specifies the name of a file containing additional options to be interpreted according to
the DHCP option format as specified in RFC2132.
optionfinger-serverip-address [,ip-address... ];
The Finger server option specifies a list of Finger servers available to the client. Servers should be
listed in order of preference.
optionfont-serversip-address [,ip-address... ];
This option specifies a list of X Window System Font servers available to the client. Servers should be
listed in order of preference.
optiongeoconf-civicstring;
A string to hold the geoconf civic structure.
This option is included based on RFC 4776.
optionhost-namestring;
This option specifies the name of the client. The name may or may not be qualified with the local
domain name (it is preferable to use the domain-name option to specify the domain name). See RFC 1035
for character set restrictions. This option is only honored by dhclient-script(8) if the hostname for
the client machine is not set.
optionieee802-3-encapsulationflag;
This option specifies whether or not the client should use Ethernet Version 2 (RFC 894) or IEEE 802.3
(RFC 1042) encapsulation if the interface is an Ethernet. A value of false indicates that the client
should use RFC 894 encapsulation. A value of true means that the client should use RFC 1042
encapsulation.
optionien116-name-serversip-address [,ip-address... ];
The ien116-name-servers option specifies a list of IEN 116 name servers available to the client.
Servers should be listed in order of preference.
optionimpress-serversip-address [,ip-address... ];
The impress-server option specifies a list of Imagen Impress servers available to the client. Servers
should be listed in order of preference.
optioninterface-mtuuint16;
This option specifies the MTU to use on this interface. The minimum legal value for the MTU is 68.
optionip-forwardingflag;
This option specifies whether the client should configure its IP layer for packet forwarding. A value
of false means disable IP forwarding, and a value of true means enable IP forwarding.
optionirc-serverip-address [,ip-address... ];
The IRC server option specifies a list of IRC servers available to the client. Servers should be
listed in order of preference.
optionloader-configfiletext
This option is used to specify a boot loading configuration file a PXE client should use.
This option is included based on RFC 5071.
optionloader-pathprefixtext
This option is used to specify a path prefix a PXE client should use in conjunction with the boot load
configuration file.
This option is included based on RFC 5071.
optionloader-reboottimeuint32
This option is used to dictate the maximum amount of time a PXE client should allow itself to achieve
configured network resources before rebooting.
This option is included based on RFC 5071.
optionlog-serversip-address [,ip-address... ];
The log-server option specifies a list of MIT-LCS UDP log servers available to the client. Servers
should be listed in order of preference.
optionlpr-serversip-address [,ip-address... ];
The LPR server option specifies a list of RFC 1179 line printer servers available to the client.
Servers should be listed in order of preference.
optionmask-supplierflag;
This option specifies whether or not the client should respond to subnet mask requests using ICMP. A
value of false indicates that the client should not respond. A value of true means that the client
should respond.
optionmax-dgram-reassemblyuint16;
This option specifies the maximum size datagram that the client should be prepared to reassemble. The
minimum legal value is 576.
optionmerit-dumptext;
This option specifies the path-name of a file to which the client's core image should be dumped in the
event the client crashes. The path is formatted as a character string consisting of characters from
the NVT ASCII character set.
optionmobile-ip-home-agentip-address [,ip-address... ];
This option specifies a list of IP addresses indicating mobile IP home agents available to the client.
Agents should be listed in order of preference, although normally there will be only one such agent.
optionname-service-searchuint16 [,uint6... ];
This option specifies a list of name services in the order the client should attempt to use them.
This option is included based on RFC 2937.
optionnds-contextstring;
The nds-context option specifies the name of the initial Netware Directory Service for an NDS client.
optionnds-serversip-address [,ip-address... ];
The nds-servers option specifies a list of IP addresses of NDS servers.
optionnds-tree-namestring;
The nds-tree-name option specifies NDS tree name that the NDS client should use.
optionnetbios-dd-serverip-address [,ip-address... ];
The NetBIOS datagram distribution server (NBDD) option specifies a list of RFC 1001/1002 NBDD servers
listed in order of preference.
optionnetbios-name-serversip-address [,ip-address...];
The NetBIOS name server (NBNS) option specifies a list of RFC 1001/1002 NBNS name servers listed in
order of preference. NetBIOS Name Service is currently more commonly referred to as WINS. WINS
servers can be specified using the netbios-name-servers option.
optionnetbios-node-typeuint8;
The NetBIOS node type option allows NetBIOS over TCP/IP clients which are configurable to be configured
as described in RFC 1001/1002. The value is specified as a single octet which identifies the client
type.
Possible node types are:
1 B-node: Broadcast - no WINS
2 P-node: Peer - WINS only
4 M-node: Mixed - broadcast, then WINS
8 H-node: Hybrid - WINS, then broadcast
optionnetbios-scopestring;
The NetBIOS scope option specifies the NetBIOS over TCP/IP scope parameter for the client as specified
in RFC 1001/1002. See RFC1001, RFC1002, and RFC1035 for character-set restrictions.
optionnetinfo-server-addressip-address [,ip-address... ];
The netinfo-server-address option has not been described in any RFC, but has been allocated (and is
claimed to be in use) by Apple Computers. It's hard to say if the above is the correct format, or what
clients might be expected to do if values were configured. Use at your own risk.
optionnetinfo-server-tagtext;
The netinfo-server-tag option has not been described in any RFC, but has been allocated (and is claimed
to be in use) by Apple Computers. It's hard to say if the above is the correct format, or what clients
might be expected to do if values were configured. Use at your own risk.
optionnis-domaintext;
This option specifies the name of the client's NIS (Sun Network Information Services) domain. The
domain is formatted as a character string consisting of characters from the NVT ASCII character set.
optionnis-serversip-address [,ip-address... ];
This option specifies a list of IP addresses indicating NIS servers available to the client. Servers
should be listed in order of preference.
optionnisplus-domaintext;
This option specifies the name of the client's NIS+ domain. The domain is formatted as a character
string consisting of characters from the NVT ASCII character set.
optionnisplus-serversip-address [,ip-address... ];
This option specifies a list of IP addresses indicating NIS+ servers available to the client. Servers
should be listed in order of preference.
optionnntp-serverip-address [,ip-address... ];
The NNTP server option specifies a list of NNTP servers available to the client. Servers should be
listed in order of preference.
optionnon-local-source-routingflag;
This option specifies whether the client should configure its IP layer to allow forwarding of datagrams
with non-local source routes (see Section 3.3.5 of [4] for a discussion of this topic). A value of
false means disallow forwarding of such datagrams, and a value of true means allow forwarding.
optionntp-serversip-address [,ip-address... ];
This option specifies a list of IP addresses indicating NTP (RFC 5905) servers available to the client.
Servers should be listed in order of preference.
optionnwip-domainstring;
The name of the NetWare/IP domain that a NetWare/IP client should use.
optionnwip-suboptionsstring;
A sequence of suboptions for NetWare/IP clients - see RFC2242 for details. Normally this option is set
by specifying specific NetWare/IP suboptions - see the NETWARE/IP SUBOPTIONS section for more
information.
optionpxe-system-typeuint16 [,uint16 ... ];
A list of one ore more 16-bit integers which allows a client to specify its pre-boot architecture
type(s).
This option is included based on RFC 4578.
optionpxe-interface-iduint8uint8uint8
A three octet value which allows a client to specify its network interface type.
This option is included based on RFC 4578.
optionpxe-client-iduint8string
A single octet indicating type, followed by a string that allows a client to specify its PXE client
identity.
This option is included based on RFC 4578.
optionoption-6rduint8uint8ip6-addressip-address [,ip-address ...];
This option contains information about the rapid deployment option. It is 8 bits of ipv4 mask length,
8 bits of 6rd prefix length, an ipv6 prefix as an ipv6 address and a list of one or more ipv4
addresses.
This option is included based on RFC 5969.
optionpana-agentip-address [,ip-address ... ] ;
A set of IPv4 addresses of a PAA for the client to use. The addresses are listed in preferred order.
This option is included based on RFC 5192.
optionpath-mtu-aging-timeoutuint32;
This option specifies the timeout (in seconds) to use when aging Path MTU values discovered by the
mechanism defined in RFC 1191.
optionpath-mtu-plateau-tableuint16 [,uint16... ];
This option specifies a table of MTU sizes to use when performing Path MTU Discovery as defined in RFC
1191. The table is formatted as a list of 16-bit unsigned integers, ordered from smallest to largest.
The minimum MTU value cannot be smaller than 68.
optionpcodetext;
This option specifies a string suitable for the TZ variable.
This option is included based on RFC 4833.
optionperform-mask-discoveryflag;
This option specifies whether or not the client should perform subnet mask discovery using ICMP. A
value of false indicates that the client should not perform mask discovery. A value of true means that
the client should perform mask discovery.
optionpolicy-filterip-addressip-address
[,ip-addressip-address...];
This option specifies policy filters for non-local source routing. The filters consist of a list of IP
addresses and masks which specify destination/mask pairs with which to filter incoming source routes.
Any source routed datagram whose next-hop address does not match one of the filters should be discarded
by the client.
See STD 3 (RFC1122) for further information.
optionpop-serverip-address [,ip-address... ];
The POP3 server option specifies a list of POP3 servers available to the client. Servers should be
listed in order of preference.
optionrdnss-selectionuint8ip-addressip-addressdomain-name;
The rdnss-selection option specifies an 8 bit flags field, a primary and secondary ip address for the
name server and a domainlist of domains for which the RDNSS has special knowledge.
This option is included based on RFC 6731.
optionresource-location-serversip-address
[,ip-address...];
This option specifies a list of RFC 887 Resource Location servers available to the client. Servers
should be listed in order of preference.
optionroot-pathtext;
This option specifies the path-name that contains the client's root disk. The path is formatted as a
character string consisting of characters from the NVT ASCII character set.
optionrouter-discoveryflag;
This option specifies whether or not the client should solicit routers using the Router Discovery
mechanism defined in RFC 1256. A value of false indicates that the client should not perform router
discovery. A value of true means that the client should perform router discovery.
optionrouter-solicitation-addressip-address;
This option specifies the address to which the client should transmit router solicitation requests.
optionroutersip-address [,ip-address... ];
The routers option specifies a list of IP addresses for routers on the client's subnet. Routers should
be listed in order of preference.
optionslp-directory-agentbooleanip-address [,ip-address... ];
This option specifies two things: the IP addresses of one or more Service Location Protocol Directory
Agents, and whether the use of these addresses is mandatory. If the initial boolean value is true, the
SLP agent should just use the IP addresses given. If the value is false, the SLP agent may
additionally do active or passive multicast discovery of SLP agents (see RFC2165 for details).
Please note that in this option and the slp-service-scope option, the term "SLP Agent" is being used to
refer to a Service Location Protocol agent running on a machine that is being configured using the DHCP
protocol.
Also, please be aware that some companies may refer to SLP as NDS. If you have an NDS directory agent
whose address you need to configure, the slp-directory-agent option should work.
optionslp-service-scopebooleantext;
The Service Location Protocol Service Scope Option specifies two things: a list of service scopes for
SLP, and whether the use of this list is mandatory. If the initial boolean value is true, the SLP
agent should only use the list of scopes provided in this option; otherwise, it may use its own static
configuration in preference to the list provided in this option.
The text string should be a comma-separated list of scopes that the SLP agent should use. It may be
omitted, in which case the SLP Agent will use the aggregated list of scopes of all directory agents
known to the SLP agent.
optionsmtp-serverip-address [,ip-address... ];
The SMTP server option specifies a list of SMTP servers available to the client. Servers should be
listed in order of preference.
optionstatic-routesip-addressip-address
[,ip-addressip-address...];
This option specifies a list of static routes that the client should install in its routing cache. If
multiple routes to the same destination are specified, they are listed in descending order of priority.
The routes consist of a list of IP address pairs. The first address is the destination address, and
the second address is the router for the destination.
The default route (0.0.0.0) is an illegal destination for a static route. To specify the default
route, use the routers option. Also, please note that this option is not intended for classless IP
routing - it does not include a subnet mask. Since classless IP routing is now the most widely
deployed routing standard, this option is virtually useless, and is not implemented by any of the
popular DHCP clients, for example the Microsoft DHCP client.
optionstreettalk-directory-assistance-serverip-address
[,ip-address...];
The StreetTalk Directory Assistance (STDA) server option specifies a list of STDA servers available to
the client. Servers should be listed in order of preference.
optionstreettalk-serverip-address [,ip-address... ];
The StreetTalk server option specifies a list of StreetTalk servers available to the client. Servers
should be listed in order of preference.
optionsubnet-maskip-address;
The subnet mask option specifies the client's subnet mask as per RFC 950. If no subnet mask option is
provided anywhere in scope, as a last resort dhcpd will use the subnet mask from the subnet declaration
for the network on which an address is being assigned. However, any subnet-mask option declaration
that is in scope for the address being assigned will override the subnet mask specified in the subnet
declaration.
optionsubnet-selectionip-address;
Sent by the client if an address is required in a subnet other than the one that would normally be
selected (based on the relaying address of the connected subnet the request is obtained from). See
RFC3011. Note that the option number used by this server is 118; this has not always been the defined
number, and some clients may use a different value. Use of this option should be regarded as slightly
experimental!
This option is not user configurable in the server.
optionswap-serverip-address;
This specifies the IP address of the client's swap server.
optiontftp-server-addressip-address [,ip-address... ];
This option configures a list of one or more IPv4 addresses of tftp servers a client may use.
This option is included based on RFC 5859
optiontcp-keepalive-garbageflag;
This option specifies whether or not the client should send TCP keepalive messages with an octet of
garbage for compatibility with older implementations. A value of false indicates that a garbage octet
should not be sent. A value of true indicates that a garbage octet should be sent.
optiontcp-keepalive-intervaluint32;
This option specifies the interval (in seconds) that the client TCP should wait before sending a
keepalive message on a TCP connection. The time is specified as a 32-bit unsigned integer. A value of
zero indicates that the client should not generate keepalive messages on connections unless
specifically requested by an application.
optiontcodetext;
This option specifies a name of a zone entry in the TZ database.
This option is included based on RFC 4833.
optiontftp-server-nametext;
This option is used to identify a TFTP server and, if supported by the client, should have the same
effect as the server-name declaration. BOOTP clients are unlikely to support this option. Some DHCP
clients will support it, and others actually require it.
optiontime-offsetint32;
The time-offset option specifies the offset of the client's subnet in seconds from Coordinated
Universal Time (UTC).
optiontime-serversip-address [, ip-address... ];
The time-server option specifies a list of RFC 868 time servers available to the client. Servers
should be listed in order of preference.
optiontrailer-encapsulationflag;
This option specifies whether or not the client should negotiate the use of trailers (RFC 893 [14])
when using the ARP protocol. A value of false indicates that the client should not attempt to use
trailers. A value of true means that the client should attempt to use trailers.
optionuap-serverstext;
This option specifies a list of URLs, each pointing to a user authentication service that is capable of
processing authentication requests encapsulated in the User Authentication Protocol (UAP). UAP servers
can accept either HTTP 1.1 or SSLv3 connections. If the list includes a URL that does not contain a
port component, the normal default port is assumed (i.e., port 80 for http and port 443 for https). If
the list includes a URL that does not contain a path component, the path /uap is assumed. If more than
one URL is specified in this list, the URLs are separated by spaces.
optionuser-classstring;
This option is used by some DHCP clients as a way for users to specify identifying information to the
client. This can be used in a similar way to the vendor-class-identifier option, but the value of the
option is specified by the user, not the vendor. Most recent DHCP clients have a way in the user
interface to specify the value for this identifier, usually as a text string.
optionv4-access-domaindomain-name;
The domain name associated with the access network for use with LIS Discovery.
This option is included based on RFC 5986.
optionv4-lostdomain-name;
The domain name of the LoST server for the client to use.
This option is included based on RFC 5223.
optionv6-only-preferreduint32;
The number of seconds the client should disable DHCPv4 for.
This option and its use by the client are specified in RFC 8925.
optionvendor-class-identifierstring;
This option is used by some DHCP clients to identify the vendor type and possibly the configuration of
a DHCP client. The information is a string of bytes whose contents are specific to the vendor and are
not specified in a standard. To see what vendor class identifier clients are sending, you can write
the following in your DHCP server configuration file:
set vendor-string = option vendor-class-identifier;
This will result in all entries in the DHCP server lease database file for clients that sent vendor-
class-identifier options having a set statement that looks something like this:
set vendor-string = "SUNW.Ultra-5_10";
The vendor-class-identifier option is normally used by the DHCP server to determine the options that
are returned in the vendor-encapsulated-options option. Please see the VENDOR ENCAPSULATED OPTIONS
section later in this manual page for further information.
optionvendor-encapsulated-optionsstring;
The vendor-encapsulated-options option can contain either a single vendor-specific value or one or more
vendor-specific suboptions. This option is not normally specified in the DHCP server configuration
file - instead, a vendor class is defined for each vendor, vendor class suboptions are defined, values
for those suboptions are defined, and the DHCP server makes up a response on that basis.
Some default behaviours for well-known DHCP client vendors (currently, the Microsoft Windows 2000 DHCP
client) are configured automatically, but otherwise this must be configured manually - see the VENDOR
ENCAPSULATED OPTIONS section later in this manual page for details.
optionvivsostring;
The vivso option can contain multiple separate options, one for each 32-bit Enterprise ID. Each
Enterprise-ID discriminated option then contains additional options whose format is defined by the
vendor who holds that ID. This option is usually not configured manually, but rather is configured via
intervening option definitions. Please also see the VENDOR ENCAPSULATED OPTIONS section later in this
manual page for details.
optionwww-serverip-address [,ip-address... ];
The WWW server option specifies a list of WWW servers available to the client. Servers should be
listed in order of preference.
optionx-display-managerip-address [,ip-address... ];
This option specifies a list of systems that are running the X Window System Display Manager and are
available to the client. Addresses should be listed in order of preference.
Standard Dhcpv6 Options
DHCPv6 options differ from DHCPv4 options partially due to using 16-bit code and length tags, but
semantically zero-length options are legal in DHCPv6, and multiple options are treated differently.
Whereas in DHCPv4 multiple options would be concatenated to form one option, in DHCPv6 they are expected
to be individual instantiations. Understandably, many options are not "allowed" to have multiple
instances in a packet - normally these are options which are digested by the DHCP protocol software, and
not by users or applications.
optiondhcp6.client-idstring;
This option specifies the client's DUID identifier. DUIDs are similar but different from DHCPv4 client
identifiers - there are documented duid types:
duid-lltduid-enduid-ll
This value should not be configured, but rather is provided by clients and treated as an opaque
identifier key blob by servers.
optiondhcp6.server-idstring;
This option specifies the server's DUID identifier. One may use this option to configure an opaque
binary blob for your server's identifier.
optiondhcp6.ia-nastring;
The Identity Association for Non-temporary Addresses (ia-na) carries assigned addresses that are not
temporary addresses for use by the DHCPv6 client. This option is produced by the DHCPv6 server
software, and should not be configured.
optiondhcp6.ia-tastring;
The Identity Association for Temporary Addresses (ia-ta) carries temporary addresses, which may change
upon every renewal. There is no support for this in the current DHCPv6 software.
optiondhcp6.ia-addrstring;
The Identity Association Address option is encapsulated inside ia-na or ia-ta options in order to
represent addresses associated with those IA's. These options are manufactured by the software, so
should not be configured.
optiondhcp6.orouint16 [ ,uint16, ... ];
The Option Request Option ("ORO") is the DHCPv6 equivalent of the parameter-request-list. Clients
supply this option to ask servers to reply with options relevant to their needs and use. This option
must not be directly configured, the request syntax in dhclient.conf (5) should be used instead.
optiondhcp6.preferenceuint8;
The preference option informs a DHCPv6 client which server is ´preferred´ for use on a given subnet.
This preference is only applied during the initial stages of configuration - once a client is bound to
an IA, it will remain bound to that IA until it is no longer valid or has expired. This value may be
configured on the server, and is digested by the client software.
optiondhcp6.elapsed-timeuint16;
The elapsed-time option is constructed by the DHCPv6 client software, and is potentially consumed by
intermediaries. This option should not be configured.
optiondhcp6.relay-msgstring;
The relay-msg option is constructed by intervening DHCPv6 relay agent software. This option is
entirely used by protocol software, and is not meant for user configuration.
optiondhcp6.unicastip6-address;
The unicast option is provided by DHCPv6 servers which are willing (or prefer) to receive Request,
Renew, Decline, and Release packets from their clients via unicast. Normally, DHCPv6 clients will
multicast these messages. Per RFC 3315, the server will reject a unicast message received from a
client unless it previously sent (or would have sent) the unicast option to that client. This option
may be configured on the server at the global and shared network level. When a unicast message is
received, the server will check for an applicable definition of the unicast option. If such an option
is found the message will be accepted, if not it will be rejected.
optiondhcp6.status-codestatus-code [ string ] ;
The status-code option is provided by DHCPv6 servers to inform clients of error conditions during
protocol communication. This option is manufactured and digested by protocol software, and should not
be configured.
optiondhcp6.rapid-commit;
The rapid-commit option is a zero-length option that clients use to indicate their desire to enter into
rapid-commit with the server.
optiondhcp6.vendor-optsstring;
The vendor-opts option is actually an encapsulated sub-option space, in which each Vendor-specific
Information Option (VSIO) is identified by a 32-bit Enterprise-ID number. The encapsulated option
spaces within these options are defined by the vendors.
To make use of this option, the best way is to examine the section titled VENDOR ENCAPSULATED OPTIONS
below, in particular the bits about the "vsio" option space.
optiondhcp6.interface-idstring;
The interface-id option is manufactured by relay agents, and may be used to guide configuration
differentiating clients by the interface they are remotely attached to. It does not make sense to
configure a value for this option, but it may make sense to inspect its contents.
optiondhcp6.reconf-msgdhcpv6-message;
The reconf-msg option is manufactured by servers, and sent to clients in Reconfigure messages to inform
them of what message the client should Reconfigure using. There is no support for DHCPv6 Reconfigure
extensions, and this option is documented informationally only.
optiondhcp6.reconf-accept;
The reconf-accept option is included by DHCPv6 clients that support the Reconfigure extensions,
advertising that they will respond if the server were to ask them to Reconfigure. There is no support
for DHCPv6 Reconfigure extensions, and this option is documented informationally only.
optiondhcp6.sip-servers-namesdomain-list;
The sip-servers-names option allows SIP clients to locate a local SIP server that is to be used for all
outbound SIP requests, a so-called"outbound proxy server." If you wish to use manually entered IPv6
addresses instead, please see the sip-servers-addresses option below.
optiondhcp6.sip-servers-addressesip6-address [,ip6-address ... ] ;
The sip-servers-addresses option allows SIP clients to locate a local SIP server that is to be used for
all outbound SIP requests, a so-called "outbound proxy servers." If you wish to use domain names
rather than IPv6 addresses, please see the sip-servers-names option above.
optiondhcp6.name-serversip6-address [,ip6-address ... ] ;
The name-servers option instructs clients about locally available recursive DNS servers. It is easiest
to describe this as the "nameserver" line in /etc/resolv.conf.
optiondhcp6.domain-searchdomain-list;
The domain-search option specifies the client's domain search path to be applied to recursive DNS
queries. It is easiest to describe this as the "search" line in /etc/resolv.conf.
optiondhcp6.ia-pdstring;
The ia-pd option is manufactured by clients and servers to create a Prefix Delegation binding - to
delegate an IPv6 prefix to the client. It is not directly edited in dhcpd.conf(5) or dhclient.conf(5),
but rather is manufactured and consumed by the software.
optiondhcp6.ia-prefixstring;
The ia-prefix option is placed inside ia-pd options in order to identify the prefix(es) allocated to
the client. It is not directly edited in dhcpd.conf(5) or dhclient.conf(5), but rather is manufactured
and consumed by the software.
optiondhcp6.nis-serversip6-address [,ip6-address ... ] ;
The nis-servers option identifies, in order, NIS servers available to the client.
optiondhcp6.nisp-serversip6-address [,ip6-address ... ] ;
The nisp-servers option identifies, in order, NIS+ servers available to the client.
optionnis-domain-namedomain-list;
The nis-domain-name option specifies the NIS domain name the client is expected to use, and is related
to the nis-servers option.
optiondhcp6.nis-domain-namedomain-name;
The dhcp6.nis-domain-name option specifies NIS domain name the client is expected to use, and is
related to dhcp6.nis-servers option.
optionnisp-domain-namedomain-list;
The nisp-domain-name option specifies the NIS+ domain name the client is expected to use, and is
related to the nisp-servers option.
optiondhcp6.nisp-domain-namedomain-name;
The dhcp6.nis-domain-name option specifies NIS+ domain name the client is expected to use, and is
related to dhcp6.nisp-servers option.
optiondhcp6.sntp-serversip6-address [,ip6-address ... ] ;
The sntp-servers option specifies a list of local SNTP servers available for the client to synchronize
their clocks.
optiondhcp6.info-refresh-timeuint32;
The info-refresh-time option gives DHCPv6 clients using Information-request messages a hint as to how
long they should between refreshing the information they were given. Note that this option will only
be delivered to the client, and be likely to affect the client's behaviour, if the client requested the
option.
optiondhcp6.bcms-server-ddomain-list;
The bcms-server-d option contains the domain names of local BCMS (Broadcast and Multicast Control
Services) controllers which the client may use.
optiondhcp6.bcms-server-aip6-address [,ip6-address ... ] ;
The bcms-server-a option contains the IPv6 addresses of local BCMS (Broadcast and Multicast Control
Services) controllers which the client may use.
optiondhcp6.geoconf-civicstring;
A string to hold the geoconf civic structure.
This option is included based on RFC 4776.
optiondhcp6.remote-idstring;
The remote-id option is constructed by relay agents, to inform the server of details pertaining to what
the relay knows about the client (such as what port it is attached to, and so forth). The contents of
this option have some vendor-specific structure (similar to VSIO), but we have chosen to treat this
option as an opaque field.
optiondhcp6.subscriber-idstring;
The subscriber-id option is an opaque field provided by the relay agent, which provides additional
information about the subscriber in question. The exact contents of this option depend upon the vendor
and/or the operator's configuration of the remote device, and as such is an opaque field.
optiondhcp6.fqdnstring;
The fqdn option is normally constructed by the client or server, and negotiates the client's Fully
Qualified Domain Name, as well as which party is responsible for Dynamic DNS Updates. See the section
on the Client FQDN SubOptions for full details (the DHCPv4 and DHCPv6 FQDN options use the same "fqdn."
encapsulated space, so are in all ways identical).
optiondhcp6.pana-agentip6-address [,ip6-address ... ] ;
A set of IPv6 addresses of a PAA for the client to use. The addresses are listed in preferred order.
This option is included based on RFC 5192.
optiondhcp6.new-posix-timezonetext;
This option specifies a string suitable for the TZ variable.
This option is included based on RFC 4833.
optiondhcp6.new-tzdb-timezonetext;
This option specifies a name of a zone entry in the TZ database.
This option is included based on RFC 4833.
optiondhcp6.erouint16 [,uint16 ... ] ;
A list of the options requested by the relay agent.
This option is included based on RFC 4994.
optiondhcp6.lq-querystring;
The lq-query option is used internally for lease query.
optiondhcp6.client-datastring;
The client-data option is used internally for lease query.
optiondhcp6.clt-timeuint32;
The clt-time option is used internally for lease query.
optiondhcp6.lq-relay-dataip6-addressstring;
The lq-relay-data option is used internally for lease query.
optiondhcp6.lq-client-linkip6-address [,ip6-address ... ] ;
The lq-client-link option is used internally for lease query.
optiondhcp6.v6-lostdomain-name;
The domain name of the LoST server for the client to use.
This option is included based on RFC 5223.
optiondhcp6.capwap-ac-v6ip6-address [,ip6-address ... ] ;
A list of IPv6 addresses of CAPWAP ACs that the WTP may use. The addresses are listed in preference
order.
This option is included based on RFC 5417.
optiondhcp6.relay-idstring;
The DUID for the relay agent.
This option is included based on RFC 5460.
optiondhcp6.v6-access-domaindomain-name;
The domain name associated with the access network for use with LIS Discovery.
This option is included based on RFC5986.
optiondhcp6.sip-ua-cs-listdomain-list;
The list of domain names in the SIP User Agent Configuration Service Domains.
This option is included based on RFC 6011.
optiondhcp6.bootfile-urltext;
The URL for a boot file.
This option is included based on RFC 5970.
optiondhcp6.bootfile-paramstring;
A string for the parameters to the bootfile. See RFC 5970 for more description of the layout of the
parameters within the string.
This option is included based on RFC 5970.
optiondhcp6.client-arch-typeuint16 [,uint16 ... ] ;
A list of one or more architecture types described as 16 bit values.
This option is included based on RFC 5970.
optiondhcp6.niiuint8uint8uint8;
The client network interface identitier option supplies information about a client's level of UNDI
support. The values are, in order, the type, the major value and the minor value.
This option is included based on RFC5970.
optiondhcp6.aftr-namedomain-name;
A domain name of the AFTR tunnel endpoint.
This option is included based on RFC 6334.
optiondhcp6.erp-local-domain-namedomain-name;
A domain name for the ERP domain.
This option is included based on RFC 6440.
optiondhcp6.rdnss-selectionip6-addressuint8domain-name;
RDNSS information consists of an IPv6 address of RDNSS, an 8 bit flags field and a domain-list of
domains for which the RDNSS has special knowledge.
This option is included based on RFC 6731.
optiondhcp6.client-linklayer-addrstring;
A client link-layer address. The first two bytes must be the type of the link-layer followed by the
address itself.
This option is included based on RFC 6939.
optiondhcp6.link-addressip6-address;
An IPv6 address used by a relay agent to indicate to the server the link on which the client is
located.
This option is included based on RFC 6977.
optiondhcp6.solmax-rtuint32;
A value to override the default for SOL_MAX_RT. This is a 32 bit value.
This option is included based on RFC 7083.
optiondhcp6.inf-max-rtuint32;
A value to override the default for INF_MAX_RT. This is a 32 bit value.
This option is included based on RFC 7083.
The Client Fqdn Suboptions
The Client FQDN option, currently defined in the Internet Draft draft-ietf-dhc-fqdn-option-00.txt is not
a standard yet, but is in sufficiently wide use already that we have implemented it. Due to the
complexity of the option format, we have implemented it as a suboption space rather than a single option.
In general this option should not be configured by the user - instead it should be used as part of an
automatic DNS update system.
optionfqdn.no-client-updateflag;
When the client sends this, if it is true, it means the client will not attempt to update its A record.
When sent by the server to the client, it means that the client shouldnot update its own A record.
optionfqdn.server-updateflag;
When the client sends this to the server, it is requesting that the server update its A record. When
sent by the server, it means that the server has updated (or is about to update) the client's A record.
optionfqdn.encodedflag;
If true, this indicates that the domain name included in the option is encoded in DNS wire format,
rather than as plain ASCII text. The client normally sets this to false if it doesn't support DNS wire
format in the FQDN option. The server should always send back the same value that the client sent.
When this value is set on the configuration side, it controls the format in which the fqdn.fqdn
suboption is encoded.
optionfqdn.rcode1flag;optionfqdn.rcode2flag;
These options specify the result of the updates of the A and PTR records, respectively, and are only
sent by the DHCP server to the DHCP client. The values of these fields are those defined in the DNS
protocol specification.
optionfqdn.fqdntext;
Specifies the domain name that the client wishes to use. This can be a fully-qualified domain name, or
a single label. If there is no trailing ´.´ character in the name, it is not fully-qualified, and the
server will generally update that name in some locally-defined domain.
optionfqdn.hostname--neverset--;
This option should never be set, but it can be read back using the option and config-option operators
in an expression, in which case it returns the first label in the fqdn.fqdn suboption - for example, if
the value of fqdn.fqdn is "foo.example.com.", then fqdn.hostname will be "foo".
optionfqdn.domainname--neverset--;
This option should never be set, but it can be read back using the option and config-option operators
in an expression, in which case it returns all labels after the first label in the fqdn.fqdn suboption
- for example, if the value of fqdn.fqdn is "foo.example.com.", then fqdn.domainname will be
"example.com.". If this suboption value is not set, it means that an unqualified name was sent in the
fqdn option, or that no fqdn option was sent at all.
If you wish to use any of these suboptions, we strongly recommend that you refer to the Client FQDN
option draft (or standard, when it becomes a standard) - the documentation here is sketchy and incomplete
in comparison, and is just intended for reference by people who already understand the Client FQDN option
specification.
The Netware/Ip Suboptions
RFC2242 defines a set of encapsulated options for Novell NetWare/IP clients. To use these options in the
dhcp server, specify the option space name, "nwip", followed by a period, followed by the option name.
The following options can be specified:
optionnwip.nsq-broadcastflag;
If true, the client should use the NetWare Nearest Server Query to locate a NetWare/IP server. The
behaviour of the Novell client if this suboption is false, or is not present, is not specified.
optionnwip.preferred-dssip-address [,ip-address... ];
This suboption specifies a list of up to five IP addresses, each of which should be the IP address of a
NetWare Domain SAP/RIP server (DSS).
optionnwip.nearest-nwip-serverip-address
[,ip-address...];
This suboption specifies a list of up to five IP addresses, each of which should be the IP address of a
Nearest NetWare IP server.
optionnwip.autoretriesuint8;
Specifies the number of times that a NetWare/IP client should attempt to communicate with a given DSS
server at startup.
optionnwip.autoretry-secsuint8;
Specifies the number of seconds that a Netware/IP client should wait between retries when attempting to
establish communications with a DSS server at startup.
optionnwip.nwip-1-1uint8;
If true, the NetWare/IP client should support NetWare/IP version 1.1 compatibility. This is only
needed if the client will be contacting Netware/IP version 1.1 servers.
optionnwip.primary-dssip-address;
Specifies the IP address of the Primary Domain SAP/RIP Service server (DSS) for this NetWare/IP domain.
The NetWare/IP administration utility uses this value as Primary DSS server when configuring a
secondary DSS server.
Vendor Encapsulated Options
The DHCP protocol defines the vendor-encapsulated-options option, which allows vendors to define their
own options that will be sent encapsulated in a standard DHCP option. It also defines the VendorIdentifiedVendorSubOptions option ("VIVSO"), and the DHCPv6 protocol defines the Vendor-specificInformationOption ("VSIO"). The format of all of these options is usually internally a string of
options, similarly to other normal DHCP options. The VIVSO and VSIO options differ in that they contain
options that correspond to vendor Enterprise-ID numbers (assigned by IANA), which then contain options
according to each Vendor's specifications. You will need to refer to your vendor's documentation in
order to form options to their specification.
The value of these options can be set in one of two ways. The first way is to simply specify the data
directly, using a text string or a colon-separated list of hexadecimal values. For help in forming these
strings, please refer to RFC2132 for the DHCPv4 VendorSpecificInformationOption, RFC3925 for the
DHCPv4 VendorIdentifiedVendorSubOptions, or RFC3315 for the DHCPv6 Vendor-specificInformationOption. For example:
option vendor-encapsulated-options
2:4:
AC:11:41:1:
3:12:
73:75:6e:64:68:63:70:2d:73:65:72:76:65:72:31:37:2d:31:
4:12:
2f:65:78:70:6f:72:74:2f:72:6f:6f:74:2f:69:38:36:70:63;
option vivso
00:00:09:bf:0E:
01:0c:
48:65:6c:6c:6f:20:77:6f:72:6c:64:21;
option dhcp6.vendor-opts
00:00:09:bf:
00:01:00:0c:
48:65:6c:6c:6f:20:77:6f:72:6c:64:21;
The second way of setting the value of these options is to have the DHCP server generate a vendor-
specific option buffer. To do this, you must do four things: define an option space, define some options
in that option space, provide values for them, and specify that that option space should be used to
generate the relevant option.
To define a new option space in which vendor options can be stored, use the option space statement:
optionspacename[[codewidthnumber][lengthwidthnumber][hashsizenumber]];
Where the numbers following codewidth, lengthwidth, and hashsize respectively identify the number of
bytes used to describe option codes, option lengths, and the size in buckets of the hash tables to hold
options in this space (most DHCPv4 option spaces use 1 byte codes and lengths, which is the default,
whereas most DHCPv6 option spaces use 2 byte codes and lengths).
The code and length widths are used in DHCP protocol - you must configure these numbers to match the
applicable option space you are configuring. They each default to 1. Valid values for code widths are
1, 2 or 4. Valid values for length widths are 0, 1 or 2. Most DHCPv4 option spaces use 1 byte codes and
lengths, which is the default, whereas most DHCPv6 option spaces use 2 byte codes and lengths. A zero-
byte length produces options similar to the DHCPv6 Vendor-specific Information Option - but not their
contents!
The hash size defaults depend upon the codewidth selected, and may be 254 or 1009. Valid values range
between 1 and 65535. Note that the higher you configure this value, the more memory will be used. It is
considered good practice to configure a value that is slightly larger than the estimated number of
options you plan to configure within the space. Previous versions of ISC DHCP (up to and including DHCP
3.0.*), this value was fixed at 9973.
The name can then be used in option definitions, as described earlier in this document. For example:
option space SUNW code width 1 length width 1 hash size 3;
option SUNW.server-address code 2 = ip-address;
option SUNW.server-name code 3 = text;
option SUNW.root-path code 4 = text;
option space ISC code width 1 length width 1 hash size 3;
option ISC.sample code 1 = text;
option vendor.ISC code 2495 = encapsulate vivso-sample;
option vendor-class.ISC code 2495 = text;
option ISC.sample "configuration text here";
option vendor-class.ISC "vendor class here";
option space docsis code width 2 length width 2 hash size 17;
option docsis.tftp-servers code 32 = array of ip6-address;
option docsis.cablelabs-configuration-file code 33 = text;
option docsis.cablelabs-syslog-servers code 34 = array of ip6-address;
option docsis.device-id code 36 = string;
option docsis.time-servers code 37 = array of ip6-address;
option docsis.time-offset code 38 = signed integer 32;
option vsio.docsis code 4491 = encapsulate docsis;
Once you have defined an option space and the format of some options, you can set up scopes that define
values for those options, and you can say when to use them. For example, suppose you want to handle two
different classes of clients. Using the option space definition shown in the previous example, you can
send different option values to different clients based on the vendor-class-identifier option that the
clients send, as follows:
class "vendor-classes" {
match option vendor-class-identifier;
}
subclass "vendor-classes" "SUNW.Ultra-5_10" {
vendor-option-space SUNW;
option SUNW.root-path "/export/root/sparc";
}
subclass "vendor-classes" "SUNW.i86pc" {
vendor-option-space SUNW;
option SUNW.root-path "/export/root/i86pc";
}
option SUNW.server-address 172.17.65.1;
option SUNW.server-name "sundhcp-server17-1";
option vivso-sample.sample "Hello world!";
option docsis.tftp-servers ::1;
As you can see in the preceding example, regular scoping rules apply, so you can define values that are
global in the global scope, and only define values that are specific to a particular class in the local
scope. The vendor-option-space declaration tells the DHCP server to use options in the SUNW option space
to construct the DHCPv4 vendor-encapsulated-options option. This is a limitation of that option - the
DHCPv4 VIVSO and the DHCPv6 VSIO options can have multiple vendor definitions all at once (even
transmitted to the same client), so it is not necessary to configure this.
